When did you change?
by Nitrate55
Summary: As the final battle between Natsu and Zeref approaches, will Natsu be able to fight after Zeraf reveals a terrible truth? Or will Natsu let himself be destroyed? If you haven't read chapter 436 of the Fairy Tail manga, this will contain SPOILERS (I do NOT own Fairy Tail) Genres would be action, romance, a bit of drama, and a bit of angst
1. The Secret and the King

**When did you change?**

Prologue

 _Natsu Dragneel is a Dragonslayer raised by the fire dragon king, Igneel. A kindhearted and powerful mage, Natsu cares for his friends at Fairy Tail and sees them as his family. He's never questioned who his human parents are, simply telling anyone who asks him that he was raised by his dragon father Igneel. Little does he know, he is sibling to the most evil mage in the world, the Black Wizard Zeref. When Emperor Spriggan, an alias that Zeref uses to hide his true identity, threatens to invade Fiore in order to take by force the Fairy Heart, Fairy Tail is forced to defend its home and its property. Natsu bravely declares that he will be the one to take on Zeref and rid the world of his evil. Ironic, as this was exactly what Zeref was planning; to have Natsu fight him. Zeref will most surely reveal to Natsu that they are related, but how will Natsu be able to cope with the fact that his only real family in the world is the Black Wizard, Zeref? Or will he simply call Zeref a liar?_

 **Chapter 1: _The Secret and the King_** _ **  
**_

The heroic wizards of Fairy Tail fought with all their might against the forces of Alvarez, defeating 3 waves of enemies including eleven of the Spriggan 12, leaving only Mage King August who hadn't shown up yet. Eventually, the royal army of Toma E. Fiore, King of Fiore, finally arrived, offering assistance to Fairy Tail against what seemed like the last wave of Alvarez troops. The battle was easily won by Fairy Tail and the royal army as there were only a couple hundred Alvarez troops left. After making sure that there were no enemies left, Toma himself came out to meet Fairy Tail in the inner circle of Magnolia city, the main battleground of the fight between Fairy Tail and Alvarez.

"And exactly why is an enemy army attacking one of my cities?!" Toma all but yelled with an irritated look on his face at Fairy Tail.

Makarov walked over to the King of Fiore and bowed, as is custom. "I'm sorry to have to drag you and the royal army into this mess of ours, your majesty, but Emperor Spriggan of the Alvarez Empire has launched a campaign to steal something very important of ours and we -"

Toma interrupted Makarov mid-sentence. "Unless this something is so very valuable to Spriggan that he'd send an entire army to retrieve it, then I don't understand. Care to explain?"

Not exactly sure what to say, as the secret of Fairy Heart was not something Makarov wanted to make public. "I can't really say, your majesty..." he admitted.

"Makarov, you know I am a reasonable man, but I cannot be reasonable if you continue to withhold this information from me!" Toma told him, a look in his eyes that said _I want to help you!_

Makarov considered this for a second. "I'll ask you to please keep this information between us, to refrain from having the magic council informed of this, your majesty." he requested.

A look of uncertainty passed Toma's face as he wondered what it was that was causing so much conflict. "Alright, this will be kept confidential unless you request otherwise," he reluctantly agreed.

"Thank you." Makarov said as he exhaled a sigh and got ready to reveal one of the guild's biggest secrets to the King of Fiore...

* * *

 **A/N: Forgive me if this first chapter is a bit rushed, it's my first shot at a fanfiction on this site :D I'm definitely going to be continuing this story for sure, so please review as I'd love to see what people think of this!**


	2. Mage King Arrives

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter 2: _Mage King Arrives_  
**

A tense Toma paced the makeshift base of operations that was set up in the guild hall from where Mavis and the others coordinated their tactics and strategies in the battle against Alvarez.

"So let me get this straight." Toma said as he stoped pacing. "You mean to tell me that Fairy Tail's first master," he looked toward Mavis in the room. "was sealed in a life sustaining lacrima and her body was discovered to generate infinite amounts of magic energy so this Emperor Spriggan, also known as Zeref, the Black Wizard, has launched a campaign to take this lacrima, which you have dubbed the name Fairy Heart, and use it to fuel his own sinister plans?"

"We believe he's going to use it to defeat Acnologia, your majesty," Makarov informed.

"You have defeated nearly his entire elite guard and what seems to be his entire army, does he even pose a threat anymore?" Toma asked.

'We're talking about the Black Wizard here, your majesty, he's not someone we should be underestimating!" Erza piped in.

Toma regarded her. "Titania, is it? I wholeheartedly agree with you, Zeref is not one to be underestimated, but his entire invasion force has been repelled, his elite guard all but destroyed, why does he continue to pursue his plans when he doesn't even have the manpower to back them? Shouldn't he either be giving up or putting a halt to this invasion of his by now?" he queried, puzzled.

"That's the logical course of action, your majesty, but we're talking about someone that cannot be judged by the logic we would normally apply to anyone else." Mavis said, adding her own outlook on the situation. "Right now, the logical next course of action with a man like Zeraf is for him to -" Just as she was about to finish her sentence, Warren ran into the room.

"Guys! I've been monitoring the mage reader and there's something you need to see!" he quickly made his way over and showed Mavis and the others.

Mavis stared in shock at what was being shown to her.

"What, what is it?" Toma asked, struggling to make his way through the small crowd that's gathered around the mage reader.

"Another twenty five airborne warships and right in the middle of them is one so much bigger than the rest," Mavis told him. "this must either be Mage King August, or...Zeref himself." she said, with a solemn look upon her face.

"What if it's both?" Cana asked them. "That bastard Zeref probably wants us all out of his way, I wouldn't be surprised if he brought his lackey with him. Didn't you say that August might even surpass Zeref in the amount of magics he's skilled in, Master?" she asked, looking at Makarov.

"No, I doubt it's Zeref that's out there. When I was at Alvarez speaking to him, just before Mest had transported me away, he said that he…" Makarov looked over at Natsu, who had been eerily silent throughout the entire discussion. "He said he was waiting for Natsu to come looking for him." All the others stared at Natsu, shocked by what Makarov had revealed.

Natsu slowly looked up at the eyes of the his friends, the ones he cherished as his family for so many years. "Y'know, why are even having this discussion?" he asked them, invoking yet more stares. "I told you guys that this isn't a fight to win; we fight to live on, to preserve the happy days that we, as a family, have together. If Zeref is here, let him be. We'll just go and show him what happens to anyone that threatens our family!" Natsu said, a fire in his eyes."I'm going to go take care of this." He suddenly started toward the door. The others began to protest, trying to stop him.

"This isn't a fight you should be taking on alone, Natsu." Makarov said to him.

Natsu considered this for a second then turned his head toward Makarov with a large grin on his face. "I know gramps, I know exactly what you mean! You're trying to protect me and you don't know how grateful I am for that, how important you all are to me!" Natsu's face turned to a look of ferocity. "Which is why I need to do this, to stop Zeref before he can hurt you guys, my family." He grinned once more. "I did say I was going to be the one to take on Zeref myself didn't I?"

"We need a plan of action to start with." Mavis said, formulating multiple scenarios and strategies in her mind. "First, we need to get artillery readied against those warships," she looked toward Warren. "Inform Osprey squad to ready the Jupiter Cannon." He nodded and left the room. Next, she turned her gaze to Natsu. "If you're going to fight whoever is on that warship leading the others, you'll need need the flying dragon squad to back you up, seeing as your motion sickness won't allow you to fight the enemy face-to-face."

Natsu looked over to where his fellow dragonslayers Wendy and Gajeel were standing. "It was fun kicking butt with you guys, I wouldn't mind doing it again!" he said, smiling.

Mavis looked at the rest of the others. "Everyone else, you'll be on ground at strategic locations in case more Alvarez troops are sent in, anyone with ranged magic would do well to provide as much support to flying dragon squad from the ground as I'll be putting you closer to where the warships are approaching." She got up from where she was sitting. "Alright everyone...let's do this for Fairy Tail!" she yelled as everyone started cheering and hooting.

"Let's kick some ass!" Gajeel joined in.

"Yeah! I'm all fired up now!" Natsu yelled his catchphrase enthusiastically and started toward the guild hall entrance, eager to begin the fight.

"Wait!" someone yelled at him, already outside of the guild.

Natsu turned around to see Lucy running toward him. "Heh, you gonna miss me or somethin'?" he teased at her.

"As if!" Lucy countered as Natsu laughed. "Just…just be careful." she said to him with a worried look on her face.

Natsu noticed her look right away and got serious. "Hey, I said I'd defeat Zeref; that doesn't mean I'm gonna go get myself killed or something." he told her.

"I just want you to be careful alright? We all care about you…I care about you." Her face reddened as she realizeed what she had just said.

"Don't you worry about me, Luce, I've got better things to be doing than go dying on you guys. I don't care who's on that ship, August or Zeref, I'm gonna go out there and show them what happens to anyone who messes with Fairy Tail!" Natsu put his hand on Lucy's head. "So stop worryin' already! I'll be fine!" he said as Lucy slowly looked up at him.

She inched closer to him. "Natsu, I…." Lucy looks up at him with a look in her eyes he couldn't quite pinpoint.

Natsu suddenly realized that he could feel the heat of her body, that mere inches separated their faces. He distractedly noticed how beautiful Lucy's yellow blonde locks looked in the moonlight. He met her gaze for one intimate, infinite moment. She leaned toward him slowly but then stopped herself. "You'd better get going, I'm distracting you." Lucy said to him, a look of embarrassment on her face.

Natsu regarded her with a bit of surprise on his face. _Does she…like me…?_ he asked himself. He'd never pondered the idea before, but the more he thought of it, the more he realized how much he favored Lucy. He'd helped her join the guild and since then, he'd practically spent everyday with her. Whether it was hanging out in her apartment or going on missions together, he and Lucy were very close.

 _I'll have to talk to her about this when I come back,_ he decided, though he had no idea where to start, especially when it when to a topic like that.

"C'mon, fire brain!" Gajeel suddenly yelled at him. "We don't have all day, those warships are starting to close in on the town and that Jutsu Shiki barrier that Freed had up in the last few battles isn't up right about now, we're sitting ducks out here in the open!"

With one last awkward goodbye to Lucy, Natsu took flight with Happy and the rest of the squad. Just before they get really high up in the air, Natsu stole one last look down at where Lucy was standing. She was still there, flashing Fairy Tail's signature hand gesture up at him. He smiled and shot up higher into the sky, steeling himself at the fight that was soon to come…

* * *

 _Alvarez Palace_

 _T_ _hree hours earlier_

Zeref stood outside the palace, watching the night sky, the stars, and the faint outline of the sun that had just set. "Ah, what a beautiful night…absolutely perfect for the invasion of Ishgar to take place." he said to himself.

"You may want to hold that thought, your majesty." Zeraf heard a voice that reminded him of the old professors at the Mildian magic academy he'd attended so many hundreds of years ago as a kid.

"Ah, August. Still waiting for the others to come back from the fight, victorious?" he asked, regarding the man.

"Except for me of course, the entire Spriggan 12 have been defeated, including those battle groups you sent; of this, I am sure." August regrettably informed him, his face saddened by the fact that all of his comrades were defeated. The ability to sense when these types of situations occurred and to see ahead of his current location were only a small sampling of the level of magic power that the man known as the Mage King was skilled in.

"Hmm...what ever will we do now? Those fairies seem to be throwing quite a wrench into my plans…" Zeref said, pondering his next course of action.

"If I may, your majesty, I had my men ready my personal retinue, my cruiser, and the remainder of the fleet." August told him.

Zeref looked up, surprised at the man's readiness to get the job done. "Going to go and give an example of true power to your fellow members in the Spriggan 12, are we?" he asked, turning his back to August.

"We are all merely pawns, aren't we?" August finally asked the question that had been on his mind since Zeref announced the invasion of Ishgar. "Tools aiding in a greater plan."

Zeref laughed a low laugh and turned around, regarding August. His eyes were crimson red. "You are correct; you, the Spriggan 12, this ENTIRE empire," he raised his arms and gestured around at his surroundings. "all are nothing but tools to aid me in my constructions, weapons to be rid of those who stand in the way of my ambitions, and loyal servants to toil in my service, all in my honor. They are nothing without me, yet I am whole without them! Their loyalty to their master is only determined by specific characteristics: the sharpness of the blade, the effectiveness of the tool, and the loyalty of the servant. These are such characteristics and these will determine their usefulness or uselessness in my service." Zeref said, dropping his arms.

His speech only shocked August to his core. _This is the man who is celebrated and cheered as the hero of the Alvarez Empire? I am compelled to consider this man who stands before me is only a twisted and insane dictator rather than a hero,_ August concluded.

"It is...settled then. I will ready my fleet and retinue and attack Fairy Tail and Ishgar." August announced and began walking away from Zeref.

"Good luck to you on the battlefield, for my brother will surely bring you to your knees." Zeref quietly said as he returned to staring at the night.

August stopped right in his tracks, struck by the words uttered by his liege. Looking back, he barely saw Zeref's body because of the fact that his black robe easily blended into the night. What he did see, however, was a look that would scare even someone as skilled as him. A pair of crimson red glowing eyes and a wicked smile were looking back at him. August quickly hurried along.

* * *

 **A/N: Well I hope this second chapter does well to pick up from where the first one kind of abruptly left off lol Sorry that it's only dialogue rather than some good action, but don't worry, there's going to be quite the fights in the next few chapters to come! I hope I didn't startle you guys with that sudden bit of NaLu in the middle there, I had to introduce it eventually xD I'd love to see what you guys think of this second chapter so please review! Good news is, I have the whole day off tomorrow to work on chapters 3 and 4 so those should be coming up shortly! Thanks a lot for the follows as well!**


	3. Infinite Flames

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter 3: _Infinite Flames  
_**

As they neared the enemy fleet, Natsu and the flying dragon squad readied themselves to start the fight.

"Alright guys, they'll start firing on us at any minute so I'll cast some enhancement spells on you!" Wendy yelled over to Gajeel and Natsu as they got closer and closer to the battle cruisers flying high above Magnolia.

"Alright then Wendy, you cast your enhancements and get ready for a plan I'm about to let you guys in on." Natsu told them.

"Natsu planning out his attack? Who are you and what have you done with my best friend?!" Happy teased.

Natsu laughed lightly. "This battle is important, we can't just be attacking anything in sight and leaving ourselves open, can we?"

"Yeah, but it's more fun to just destroy everything!" Gajeel said jokingly.

"Heh. I'd love to agree with you on that one, but this time we gotta show them how skilled we really are!" Natsu said, getting serious. "And I know the perfect way to do it! You guys remember how Juvia and Gray did that unison raid? We're gonna do one of our own! You guys ready?"

Gajeel looked a bit confused. " Wait a minute, how are we going to go about this?" he asked.

Natsu rolled his eyes and looked at the iron dragon slayer. "I'd thought we were on par with each other on this kind of stuff but I guess I was wrong."

"Hey, I can't read minds, how am I supposed to know what's going on in that brain of yours? Assuming you even have one, that is!" Gajeel shot back, laughing.

It quickly escalated into another one of their heated arguments until Carla was able to break it up.

"We aren't here to argue so stop wasting time, we don't have all day here!"

The two grudgingly stopped fighting and Natsu began explaining how they would execute the unison raid. "Alright, to do this we're gonna need to all attack the enemy with our respective dragon roars. What I mean here is, I do Fire Dragon Roar, Gajeel does Iron Dragon Roar, and Wendy does Wind Dragon Roar, all at the same time. Got that?"

"I understand completely." Wendy says.

"Doesn't sound too complicated to me." Gajeel agreed.

Wendy quickly casted the enhancement spells that she'd mentioned earlier on herself, along with Natsu and Gajeel.

"Alright!" Natsu gathered his magic energy. "FIRE DRAGON - "

"WIND DRAGON - "

"IRON DRAGON -"

"ROAR!" They all said in at the same time, and sent a blast aimed at the greater of the battle cruisers.

Screams and panic erupted as seven of the cruisers were annihilated by the attack. Even one of the two cruisers flanking Mage King August's main battleship was destroyed, prompting the crew flying his ship to start evasive maneuvers.

"Hold steady! Panic will only show these fools weakness and my men do not show weakness in battle." August ordered his men.

"Sir!" The crewman tasked with issuing orders to the fleet ran toward him. "Shall I signal the other ships to begin firing?"

"Give the order to open fire, although I doubt it'll do much good against these dragon slayers." August replied to the man, stroking his long beard as he contemplated the flying dragon squad's next course of action.

As the battle cruisers began to open fire on Natsu and the others, fire from Fairy Tail's wizards who're skilled in ranged magic countered from the ground, though it did painfully little to affect the heavy suppressive fire that was being emitted from the battleship cannons.

"FIRE DRAGON ROAR!" Natsu sent out a column of fire at one of the ships that was firing, blasting it right in two.

"Focus fire on that one right there." August ordered, pointing to where Natsu is flying.

The ships began focusing their blasts on Natsu and although most of them miss, a few come eerily close to hitting him.

"Be careful Natsu!" Wendy warned him.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to let them stop me after I just got here!"

"So what do we do now? That fire they're dishing out is gonna make it a pain trying to get close to those ships. This is just like when we took on those first 50 ships in the initial attack except these 25 are much more powerful versions of those first battle cruisers. They seem to have a better armament as well." Lily informed them.

"Doesn't matter, they blow up just the same!" Just as Gajeel said this, they heard the sound of something immense coming from the east.

August looked to the direction of where the sound was coming from, only to see a shot from the Jupiter cannon headed right for his ship. Calmly, he held up his staff and raised a magic shield around his capital ship.

"Hah! They never learn their lesson, do they?" Natsu remarked, expecting the shield to disperse the Jupiter cannon blast in the same way that the shield Azir had raised on his capital ship did in the initial battle. Instead, the shield August raised absorbs the blast as soon as it hits.

"Don't expect me to fall for that trick the same way Azir did." August said, somehow aware that the dragon slayers were hoping he'd make the mistake. He then pointed his staff at the east forests from where the blast had come from. "Absorption shield magic! Retaliation blast!" The shield turned a blueish green color as magic energy gathered at the spot where the Jupiter cannon shot had initially hit. A low sound reminiscent of a screech began, getting louder and louder as the raw magic energy gathered. It went on for about fifteen seconds and then stopped abruptly. One second. Everything was silent for one second, then a blast fired out of the shield right into the east forests.

"NO!" Natsu roared as he realized that the shot was directed right at where Alzack, Bisca, and Asuka were manning the Jupiter cannon. The spot where the blast hit is left a smoldering crater and no one seemed to be there.

Suddenly, a telepathic message came in. "We're alright! We managed to get away before the blast hit. Same can't be said about the Jupiter cannon though, I won't be able to render anymore artillery support from down here." Bisca frantically informed Natsu.

Relieved at his comrade's safety, Natsu replies. "Good to hear you're alive. Get outta there before they decide they wanna finish their work."

Natsu turned towards the capital ship, looking right at where August is standing. He wondered what he can do to get August off his capital ship and down to the ground where they can fight him or possibly even defeat August while still in the air. _Wait a minute, if that shield on his capital ship is supposed to absorb and redirect blasts of magic back from where they came, then that means…_

Natsu began gathering magic energy into his mouth.

"FIRE DRAGON -"

"What are you doing!? Didn't you see how that Jupiter cannon shot got absorbed and fired back?" Gajeel said, looking at the Salamander.

"ROAR!" Natsu sent another column of fire at the capital ship. It gets absorbed by the shield instantaneously, but despite this, Natsu continued breathing flames at the shield until he had almost no magic energy left to do so. He gets dizzy and a bit exhausted from almost depleting his magic reserve. The shield absorbs so much fire magic that it turns a flaming red and orange color.

"What a fool, is this the one they call the fire dragon slayer? Doesn't he realize that blast is even more powerful when it's redirected? Let's just see if he can dodge this with his energy used up!" August pointed his staff at Natsu. "Retaliation blast!" The shield once again emitted a screeching sound as fire magic gathered, aimed right at Natsu.

"Guys, you might wanna get away from here..." Natsu warned Gajeel and Wendy.

"But you'll be -" Carla starts protesting.

"I said go!" Natsu yelled at her. "This is gonna get ugly."

The others got a good distance away from where he was flying.

"Uhh, I hope you have a plan, Natsu." Happy nervously said.

"Don't you worry, buddy, just keep me flying up here and we'll be alright."

The screeching from the shield stops for one second just as it did before.

Natsu readied himself. _No such thing as a shield that never depletes,_ Natsu thought to himself. _  
This one just needs a bit more pressure._

A column of fire bigger than any Natsu had ever seen is blasted right at him.

Gajeel and Wendy watch, their eyes peeled, as the fiery blast heads right for their comrade.

"I hope that fire brain knows what he's doing." Gajeel says to himself.

Just as the flaming blast is about to hit him, Natsu smirked. _You'll regret making this mistake for the rest of your life, August._

It hits. Silence. All the while, August is smiling at his adversary, thinking that he'd won. Then, the sound of sucking as Natsu takes in and absorbs the blast. It takes him a full five minutes to absorb all of the flaming energy into his body but he does it nevertheless.

August's smile drops.

"Dragonslayer secret art! INFINITE FLAMES!" An inferno hot enough to rival the temperature of the sun itself is sent spiraling toward August's ship. The shield does nothing to stop the attack as the capital ship along with the remaining cruisers around it are consumed by the fire that hits them.

Once again, silence.

 _Alvarez Palace_

At seemingly the same moment that August's ship is hit by the blast, Zeref laughs his sinister laugh. "Did I not tell you that my brother would bring you to your knees, August!? I am not a fool, I can tell when a failure is in my midst and you, August, are a failure. Enjoy death."

* * *

It does not come. It does not come and August is ashamed that he must face the ones that brought him, the Mage King, down so easily.

The silence is broken when a familiar voice makes telepathic contact with the dragon slayers. "Warren here, what was that you guys? I saw 3 blasts and then the cruiser battleships went out of sight, what happened?" Warren asked them as Mavis, Makarov, Toma, and the rest of Fairy Tail listened in, curious as to what happened as well.

"Nothing." Natsu replied, his voice solemn for some reason. "Except for that August is down, he won't be bothering us from the air anymore." At hearing this, all of Fairy Tail's members across Magnolia start cheering and rejoicing, hugging each other and expressing their happiness at knowing that they had defeated the last of the Spriggan 12.

"Good job out there, Natsu!" Makarov congratulated him.

"A job well done, everyone!" Mavis tells them. "Regroup here at base, we need to discuss our next strategy...after celebrations of course."

"There's some wreckage from the cruisers that fell to the ground, I'm gonna go look for survivors along with the others." Natsu replied, headed toward where he saw the cruisers go down.

* * *

August's eyes shoot open. He realized that though the blast nearly killed him, death hadn't yet taken him. Looking to his staff, he saw that it had been shattered into two pieces of wood, the crystal lying in smoldering pieces on the ground. One of his legs was completely broken. He sat up, noticing that a few of the crew from his ship survived the blast. He counted fifty men, some standing, most sitting on the ground.

"Where are the rest?" August hears a strong voice behind him ask. He looked over to where he heard the voice to see the fire dragon slayer who destroyed his entire fleet standing in front of one of the crewmen, flanked by the other two dragon slayers that were with him and three small cats.

"Where are the rest of the crew?" The dragon slayer repeats his question, louder.

The crewmen he's asking is nothing less than terrified. "Th-they didn't..." he stammers.

August answers for him. "They're all dead, Salamander."

Natsu looked at August.

"Did you actually expect anyone to survive from an attack like that? My own crew barely survived and only because my shield kept the blast at bay for a split second before it went down." August tried to get up, using the larger half of his broken staff to support him. He doesn't succeed, however, and begins to fall to the ground again before a pair of strong arms steady him. He looked up to see that the arms belonged to the dragon slayer. _Maybe he'll finish me off, end my misery right here,_ August hoped.

Natsu noticed the look of shame in August's eyes right away. "Just because you lost a fight, doesn't mean you're a complete failure, you know." Natsu told him. "I've lost plenty of fights, do you see me moping around?" He grinned.

 _Who is this man?_ August asks himself. _He jokes with the enemy and makes efforts to...to raise their spirits...?_ "What is it that you want from me _,_ Salamander?"

Natsu gets serious. "I only meant to destroy your ship with my attack, it shouldn't have killed anyone."

 _Is he an idiot?_ "Yes well, I'm sure you can see the results of that fantastic plan of yours all around you." August remarked sarcastically.

"You guys are some idiots, you know that?" Natsu told him. "I don't like killing, no matter who it is. You could have avoided all of this if you had just fought me on the ground."

 _Is he...grieving the deaths of those crew members?_ _How can one person care so much about_ _life_ _itself that he grieves at the deaths of his enemies?_

Natsu set August back on the ground. "There's really no other reason why I should stay here." he says, glaring into the distance. He starts toward Wendy and Gajeel. _No, I refuse to return to that monster._ "Wait." August calls before Natsu got too far. The Salamander turns around, a questioning look on his face. "I have information. Just take me to where your friends are, I'll give it you gladly. I'd suggest you don't miss this opportunity."

"And how do we know that you don't just want us to take you to our guild, so that it'll be that much easier for you to take what's ours?" Natsu said to him, his expression suspicious.

"If I wanted to continue this campaign of terror that the emperor has sent me on, I could have already done it. In fact, I could've died doing it. I no longer have any reason to stay loyal to Spriggan and nor do I desire to do so anymore."

Wendy walks over to Natsu. "I don't think he's a threat anymore. I don't detect that much magic energy from him as I did when the fight started; it's a miracle he even survived your attack." she whispered. "I think we should hear him out. Even if he tries something, he's been weakened so it'll be easier for us to neutralize him."

He considered this and looked over at August. "Alright, we'll listen. But don't try anything, or you'll regret it."

"I won't." August assured.

Natsu glared at him for a few seconds more. "Great!" And at that, Natsu's expression went from ready to fight, to happy as ever. He looks over at Gajeel. "You help him up, we'll have to walk all the way to the guild since we won't be able to fly."

"Alright, I'll ge- WAIT! Why do I have to be the one to walk him all the way to the guild!?" And just like that, Gajeel and Natsu started arguing once again. It goes on for a few minutes until Wendy and Carla finally break them up. They decide that the both of them will help August walk back to the guild.

It takes a few minutes, as the guild is all the way in the middle of Magnolia whereas they were close to being outside of the city.

As they neared the guild hall, they hear all the yelling, laughter, and cheer going on as the entire guild celebrated the day's victory. Wendy runs ahead to open the door to the guild so that Natsu and Gajeel can walk August in. As soon as they walk in, the entire guild goes quiet as they stare at the two dragon slayers walk the most powerful of the Spriggan 12 into the guild hall.

"Mage King August." Makarov eyes August, recognizing him from his trip to Alvarez. He looks over at Natsu. "Why did you bring him here?"

Before Natsu has a chance to reply, August answered. "I told them I have information on Emperor Spriggan that I'm willing to give you, I wasn't lying."

Makarov regarded him suspiciously.

In response, August smiles. "We have much to discuss."

* * *

 **A/N: So, what do you guys think? It's not too short is it? Just making sure lol As always, please review, it helps :D Chapter 4 shouldn't be that long off so stay tuned!**


	4. Love Blossoms

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter 4: _Love Blossoms_  
**

 _Alvarez Palace_

"Ready my personal fleet and the attack force immediately." Zeref commanded one of the servants in the palace.

Zeref hadn't counted much on the cronies that called him Emperor when he sent them to attack Fairy Tail, though he did imagine that they would be able to bring him the Fairy Heart like he'd commanded them to. As it seemed, he would have to take the Fairy Heart himself if he planned on using it to take Acnologia out of the game for good. The dragon king festival would commence just as he'd planned, a fight to the death between 3 opponents: Human, Dragon, and Immortal. He would use the Fairy Heart to gain an unfair advantage against Acnologia and kill him quickly in order to face the one he truly wished to fight, his brother Natsu. Though on the outside his intentions where to kill everyone in the world, deep down, Zeref wished and hoped that his brother Natsu would be the one to kill him and rid him of his endless despair; four hundred years of hating life in order to stop himself from taking it was just about enough for Zeref. He wanted to be free from the world that constantly rejected him, from the contradictory curse that Ankhseram mercilessly put on him. As he was forced to be uncaring toward life, however, Zeref pushed these hopes away and told himself that his plan to rid the world of all life was his only solace, his only freedom, from the curse and from the rejection the world would constantly throw at him. But was it a selfish wish, to hope that his dear brother would be the one to deliver him from the world? Surely not, as Zeref was, in most of his life, always the victim. His father had died without a chance to see Natsu born, his mother did not survive Natsu's birth, his only precious family he had left in the world died merely a few years after coming into it, and after the curse took his mortality and left him a man who took all life around him, the only girl who understood his pain, who accepted him, was killed by the curse. Before he lost his care for life, Zeref would often beat the ground and scream at the sky. _Why!? Why must this world hate me so? "Why must everything be taken from me, why must my only love, my only hope, be ripped form my hands constantly?"_ He would wail. Only the cruel world had been the one to drive this man to such lengths. Why? Why did the world choose Zeref out of so many who actually deserved to be cursed? And it wasn't just the curse of Ankhseram, it was Zeref's miserable life in general. What had this man done to deserve this? What was it that brought the wrath of the world upon him? There is no reasoning, no explanation, sadly. There is only the hope that Zeref's tortured soul can find peace if Natsu is to succeed in defeating him…

* * *

 _Magnolia_

"Five thousand men and a small fleet of five top-class cruiser battleships equipped with top of the line magic blaster cannons is what you should be expecting in Zeref's attack." August told Makarov, Mavis, and the others. He had promised to give them them any and all information that he had on Zeref, most importantly, any information on the upcoming battle. He didn't regret betraying the Black Wizard either, for he felt that Fairy Tail's constant will to defend themselves and to defend Fairy Heart was a noble cause, one which deserved his utmost aid rather than his opposition. August knew that his aid would better be tailored towards Fairy Tail rather than a tyrant who cared not for comrades, such as Zeref.

"Do you have any idea on the plan he'll be executing in his attempt to take Fairy Heart?" Mavis curiously asked him.

"Sadly, I do not. The man is shrouded in mystery, even we in the Spriggan 12 have no idea how he executed his plans, only that he would give us our orders and we would carry them out." August informed her. "About the five battleships he'll be bringing along with him, they're equipped with quite a powerful arsenal of weaponry. The fire those ships will be laying down is equal to that of fifty normal class cruisers. If you have any wizards skilled in barrier or shield magic, you'll need them if Zeref decides to fire on the guild hall, though I doubt he will do it knowing that Fairy Heart resided within. With my broken leg and my power drained, I won't be able to render any assistance in the battle, unfortunately." August glances at Natsu. "You can thank that dragon slayer of yours for that."

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that you'd be helping us? You're the one who forced me to unleash the beast on your fleet when you used that shield of yours!" Natsu said, grinning. Though he regretted taking the lives of the crewmen aboard the cruisers, Natsu was quite proud of himself at his immense show of power in the battle. He didn't particularly understand how he learned the secret art _infinite flames_ , however. It was as if the moment he absorbed the tremendous amount of magic energy from August's retaliation blast, the knowledge of how to use such a powerful ability flowed into his mind. He didn't understand it, but he decided not to think about it at the moment.

"Just as it took my crewmen three hours to prepare my fleet when I attacked you, Zeref's crew will likely take some time to prepare his own fleet, the top class cruisers that he will be employing are quite large ships and take just as much time to prepare as an entire fleet equal to my own would. I suggest you use this time to prepare for the attack." August advised them.

"Alright everyone, you heard him! We need to get ready for Zeref's attack force, gear up and report to Makarov or me for what you can do to help in the preparations and for where you'll be assigned when the fight starts." Mavis announced to the others.

Natsu decided to take this extra time they had to go and talk to Lucy, he'd been planning on doing so since he got back to the guild. Finding Lucy standing alone near a wall secluded from the rest of the guild, Natsu proceeded to greet her.

"Hey, Luce."

"Hey Natsu. Congrats on the victory against August, but I didn't imagine he'd decide to help us afterward. You must have really knocked some sense into him, huh?" Lucy joked.

"Oh yeah, I guess I got him good out there." Natsu said, smiling awkwardly.

"I was really worried when I saw that blast hit you though, how did you know you'd be able to absorb it?" Lucy asked him, her look of worry from earlier returning to her eyes.

"I told ya not worry about me, I know these kinds of things!" Natsu assured her. In truth, Natsu had only followed his gut feeling and instincts on whether or not he'd be able to absorb August's retaliation blast; it wasn't until the blast was actually fired and he saw that it was flame magic that he knew his instinct was right on point. "Besides, I couldn't let myself get beaten with you watching the fight, now could I?"

Lucy had never expected that Natsu cared about what she thought of him, it made her blush. "I...didn't think you cared if I saw how you did in the fight, Natsu." She told him.

"Well I gotta show you that I'm strong enough to protect you, don't I?" Natsu had wanted to know if Lucy liked him or not, it seemed like she did, but he didn't expect himself to say something like that to her right off the bat. _Well, it's too late now_ he concluded. It was time he pushed the doubts out of his mind and confessed his real feelings to Lucy, whether or not she returned them wasn't his concern anymore.

At hearing his last comment, Lucy's face had reddened to the color of Natsu's flames. "You...you want to protect me, Natsu?"

"Well...of course I do, you're really important to Fairy Tail..." _Say it_ Natsu urged himself. "You're very important...to me."

Lucy looked down. She didn't think Natsu would be the one to confess his favor of her, she wanted to be the one to tell him how important he was to her. It had been something she was constantly encouraging herself to do; every time she looked into those black eyes of his, she felt ever more compelled to tell him how much she wanted to be with him. Shame racked her the more she thought of her failure to make the first move.

As if sensing her shame, Natsu cupped his hand on Lucy's cheek, an act that made her look up. He edged closer to her, the smell of fire and burned wood flooding Lucy's senses. Lucy decided to forget her shame and just go ahead and tell Natsu how she felt about him.

"You're important to me too, Natsu." Lucy told him. Natsu had shared Lucy's fear that she wouldn't return his feelings and upon hearing her words, Natsu was overjoyed. But mere words didn't satisfy Natsu; he wanted to prove to Lucy the rock hard solidity of his feelings for her and there was only one way he could do it.

 _"Now or never"_ Natsu thought.

He leaned in closer to her face. Slowly and tenderly, his lips met hers as they both closed their eyes. Returning the kiss, Lucy laid her hand on Natsu's muscular chest. To Natsu and Lucy, the moment lasted an eternity and then some. Though there was a love between them, in the eternal moment that they kissed, this love blossomed and grew at an exponential rate. These two souls were bound to each other, their love acting as a shield against those that threatened them and their friends, and their attachment to each other and will to protect one another acting as a sword and beacon. Even when they pulled away, they just stood there, gazing into each other's eyes.

Lucy finally broke the silence when she said, "So...what do you wanna do while we're waiting for the attack?"

"Well, I wanted to do some battle practice in the meantime...do you wanna help me?" Natsu asked her.

"Why not?" Lucy said, grinning at Natsu the same way he would grin at her sometimes. "You said you wanted to protect me, didn't you?"

Natsu returned the grin. "Yeah, I did."

The hours afterward passed by slowly, with Natsu and Lucy both practicing their magic and fighting skills and often taking breaks in which they simply spent a few minutes sitting with each other and chatting. They almost forgot that an attack by the Black Wizard would soon be coming, though they were confident in their skills and in their friend's abilities.

* * *

As the light of dawn broke through the barrier of stars and night time, Zeref's small fleet of airships slowly entered Magnolia's airspace on the outskirts of the city. Completely aware that Fairy Tail knew and was ready for his arrival, Zeref's men were prepared for the operation to take Fairy Heart. Zeref hadn't brought just any levy of troops along with him either; his five thousand man army was specially modified to suit his operation, a detail which August was not made aware of before. It was a last measure Zeref had made in the event that his elite guard and army were to fall at the hands of a certain mage guild, he was confident that it would catch Fairy Tail off guard. Once the ships were above Magnolia, Zeref summoned one of the men in charge of relaying orders to the rest of the crew.

"Signal the other ships to turn and open fire and have them ready the men for deployment on my command." He ordered the man.

Zeref's plan was to draw out Fairy Tail by firing on the buildings and houses in the city until he caused enough damage for Fairy Tail to have to intervene. The plan seemed to be going well, many of the buildings were leveled to the ground within minutes of his order to open fire. After a good ten minutes of destruction, counter fire from the ground suddenly began hitting his ships. It caused negligible damage but did reveal Fairy Tail's position on the ground.

"Deploy the men and tell them to attack any and all wizards in sight." Zeref ordered. Just as he said this, one of his ships suddenly blew up in a fiery plume of flames. Flying away from the explosion, Zeref saw, was his brother Natsu.

"Ah, finally." Zeref said, an insidious smile forming on his face. He'd been wanting to fight his brother for so long that the wait had practically hurt him, even if this wasn't the final fight between them.

"ZEREF!" Natsu roared as he flew toward Zeref's airship at top speed. He landed on the very front of the ship's bow. A few men tried to stop him as he made his way toward Zeref, but were easily knocked aside by Natsu's strong arms. Natsu continued at a semi-fast pace across the main deck, right onto Zeref's command deck, and right in front of Zeref's face where he glared at him, silently.

"Natsu Dragneel. A pleasure to see you again." Zeref greeted Natsu as if they were in a meeting rather than a battle predicting the fate of Fairy Tail itself.

"I'm gonna kick your ass." Natsu said to him, his voice filled with anger.

"I suppose you will try," Zeref's smile widened. "But for now, know that you have made your first mistake." Zeref had taken the opportunity to lift his hand in front on Natsu's chest and used an object manipulation magic to send Natsu flying back.

Natsu was pushed back by the sudden force of Zeref's magic but quickly regained his focus and began running toward the Black Wizard, his hands ablaze with flames.

The fight, it seemed, had started.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, so I would just like to formally apologize for taking so long to upload this next chapter, some stuff was happening the past week and I wasn't able to start work on chapter 4 up until a few days ago. Trust me, I won't let this happen in the future, chapters will be uploaded much more accordingly from now on. I hope you guys like this chapter and as always, please review.**


	5. Etherious Awakening

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter 5: _Etherious Awakening_  
**

"FIRE DRAGON IRON FIST!" Natsu sent a fist of flame right at Zeref's face.

Easily sidestepping the attack, Zeref laughed. "You won't get me that easily, Natsu."

To Zeref's surprise, Natsu came back with another Iron Fist attack immediately after missing with the first one. Pain exploded in Zeref's chest as he realized the attack had hit him. Though he was immortal and had enhanced durability, Zeref could still feel pain if it was inflicted upon him with enough power.

"Seems you're as unpredictable as they say you are." He said, as he jumped back from Natsu's blow. Raising his arm, Zeref used his object manipulation magic to cause a series of small explosions at Natsu's feet. Natsu jumped and dodged as splinters and chunks of wood from the deck flew in all directions. A few of the explosions came close to hitting him and as he needed more speed for the particular magic Zeref was using, Natsu activated his Lightning Flame mode.

"An alternate element in addition to fire, I see. Impressive." Zeref hadn't expected his brother so have such an ability at hand.

Natsu, using the tremendous boost of speed his Lightning Flame mode granted him, zipped across the deck of the ship and sent a Fire Dragon's Roar attack mid-air at Zeref.

Zeref jumped and ran to avoid the fire from the attack, though it still burned the end of his toga. He stopped his dash at the opposite end of the deck and pointed his palm toward Natsu's direction, sending a blast of black magic at him.

Natsu landed on the deck and, raising his arm in the same fashion as Zeref, sent an arc of lightning to counter the black magic. Both magics collided into a sphere of black and lightning magic that expanded larger and larger the longer Natsu and Zeref kept emitting the blasts from their hands. It abruptly and suddenly exploded as they both began running it each other. They crashed head on, their hands grasping one another much like gladiators would do in fights.

"You've become quite the powerful one, Natsu." Zeref said, smiling once again.

"Don't speak to me like you know me, you bastard!" Natsu roared.

 _"Oh, you don't know how much I know you"_ Zeref thought. He yearned to tell Natsu who he truly was to him, but he wanted to wait until the time was right.

It seemed that Zeref's thoughts strayed him from the fight, as Natsu was suddenly able to overwhelm Zeref and push him onto the ground.

"Damnit..." Zeref cursed as he started getting up quickly.

"You're not going anywhere!" Natsu growled and breathed flames all over the spot where Zeref was laying; he'd have been scorched had he not jumped back in time.

 _Seems I underestimated him_ Zeref concluded. It was time he got serious. Zeref raised both his arms and used a tactic he had perfected for just this type of battle: one hand would be used to attack with black magic, the other would be used for object manipulation magic. Zeref began ripping chunks out of the deck of his ship with his object manipulation magic and hurling them at Natsu while firing concentrated blasts of black magic from his other hand at the same time.

Natsu dodged but was still hit quite a few times by either a blast of black magic or a chunk of the deck. Natsu observed Zeref's style of attack. It wasn't anything he'd seen before and he wasn't sure how to counter it, so he resolved to continue the fight until he either found a weakness in Zeref's technique or found a way to even the odds a bit.

 _Magnolia, ground level_

As the first wave of the five thousand soldiers descended from the airships, Fairy Tail, lead by Erza, charged them and attacked. All was going well, but something was off about the Alvarez troops.

"Take this!" Erza slashed one of the soldiers with her katana, sending him down to the ground. A blood red gash opened up across his chest; any normal man would've died not long after taking such a blow. Except this man didn't die.

"Eheheheh!" A low cackle came from the soldier as he rose from the ground. The skin around his wound slowly closed in on itself. Erza recoiled at the sight. How were they able to do something like this? As she looked around, she noticed every other soldier hit by magic would only go down for a few seconds and get back up, completely fine.

The truth was, these soldiers weren't even human to begin with. They were Etherious demons, created by Zeref in the event that the entirety of his attack force and even his elite guard were to be defeated. They weren't as powerful as Zeref's other demons, however; unlike the demons of Tartarus, these demons could not wield advanced curse magic, only the curse magic that constantly regenerated them. This was because they were rarely used; as Zeref never really found any situation in which he needed them, he had no intention of devoting more of his time and energy into making them just as powerful as his other creations. Still, they were deadly, and Fairy Tail of course had no idea how to counter their regeneration abilities. Left unchecked, these soldiers would overwhelm Fairy Tail unless they were to find a way to stop them.

Erza, despite usually being able to find solutions in situations like this, wasn't sure how they could deal with this new problem, so she simply lead the others in the fight. It was a draw, Fairy Tail constantly pushing the Etherious soldiers back, and the soldiers regenerating and coming back. It went on for some time until something terrible happened: Natsu and Zeref's fight had delayed the other airships from landing in order to send reinforcements to the wave of Alvarez troops already fighting Fairy Tail. This, in turn, kept the battle in stalemate; however, the airships were eventually able to get away from the carnage Natsu and Zeref's fight was causing and land some meters away from where Fairy Tail was fighting. The rest of the Alvarez troops began flowing from the ships as soon as they landed. It would be a massacre if Fairy Tail didn't get away in time.

"We need to retreat for now!" Makarov told them. He had joined the fight when he saw that there would be more of the enemy arriving. He knew that he had to help the others get away. Most importantly, if the battle were to continue the way it was going, the countless numbers of Alvarez troops would soon overrun them and break through into the guild hall to begin looking for the Fairy Heart, something Makarov could not permit. Using his magic, he held off the Alvarez troops long off enough for the others to break off from the battle, but it seemed like they would never be able to get inside without the enemy slipping in behind them.

Just as the Alvarez soldiers were about to charge into the guild after them, they were suddenly blocked by what seemed like an invisible force. Makarov and the others looked behind them to see August struggling to stand with Warren's help, his arm outstretched toward the guild doors. He was blocking the Alvarez soldiers with his shield magic, but he seemed drained and very tired.

"August! What are you doing!? I thought you said you couldn't help in this fight? You're too drained, you can't push yourself like this!" Makarov told him. Though he was grateful for August's help, he was concerned for the health of their new found ally.

Despite his obvious struggle to continue using his magic, August kept his usual calm demeanor when he spoke.

"Frankly, I don't care about my own well-being. There are soldiers trying to infiltrate the guild, this really isn't the time to be worrying about myself anyway." He said.

Though his own health was still an important matter, August was right, this wasn't the time to be stressing about other things. After all, the Alvarez soldiers were still trying to get into the guild despite the barrier that kept them back. It was only a matter of time when August would be unable to keep the barrier up. Foreseeing this, Makarov and the others begin setting up defensive arrangements under Mavis' guidance. It took a bit of time but they were able to barricade the guild doors with chairs and tables.

"I...I'm sorry but I don't think I can keep up this barrier for much longer..." August warned them. He'd bravely held the enemy back with his magic for roughly an hour, which had been more than enough time for Fairy Tail to set up their defenses. By the time he warned them that he couldn't continue on doing so, August was almost completely out of magic and ready to collapse.

"You've done well, August, we can't thank you enough. We've set up the defenses in this time you've given us." Makarov told him.

"Alright, tell me when you're ready and I'll drop the barrier." August said back.

A few last arrangements were conducted and they were ready for the fight.

"Before August brings down the shield, I want all of you to know something," Mavis announced.

"No matter how much of them there are, no matter how powerful the enemy, don't give up! Fight to the end! We can't let Zeref take Fairy Heart and nor can we allow ourselves to be defeated at a time like this! This fight is for the good of Magnolia, Fiore, Ishgar, and all of mankind, so let's show them what we can do!" She screamed.

Her shout of encouragement rallied their waning spirits just as it was intended to. It reminded them of what they were truly fighting for and who depended on them to win this fight, which helped them to be confident in each other. They realized that no matter what might happen, this fight would not be lost. They would win, at any cost.

Whether this was true or not, however, was yet to be disputed.

"Alright, August. Lower the barrier. We're ready." Makarov signaled him.

August slowly looked at the faces of every one of Fairy Tail's members.

 _"These truly are the heroes of this dark world"_ he decided. He realized at that moment that he considered every single one of them his comrades, and whether or not he died in that fight, he was proud to fight by Fairy Tail's side.

August lowered the barrier. Like predators pouncing on their prey, the Alvarez soldiers ran as fast as they could and rammed into the barricaded gate of the guild hall. It was only something like two minutes before the barricade was destroyed. The soldiers ran in as soon as the guild doors were down; Fairy Tail met them with a charge of their own. Woe betide the Alvarez soldiers for they had not anticipated Fairy Tail's strong, iron will…

 _Zeref's flagship  
_

Flashes of lightning and fire along with explosions of black magic could only begin to describe how the fight between Natsu and Zeref looked in the dawn sky.

Natsu had been fighting for what seemed like hours. The battle was a precarious balance, one which could have tipped in either Zeref or Natsu's favor at a moment's notice.

 _I gotta step up my game if I wanna win this!_ Natsu realized. Suddenly, he remembered something so important that he nearly slapped his forehead as he couldn't believe he'd forgotten: his right arm. When Igneel had ripped off Acnologia's right arm in the fight, Natsu had taken the time after the battle to go out into the field where the fight took place. He had a plan to use the severed arm of Acnologia for his fight against Zeref. He was taking a risk, though, as he wasn't sure what might happen if he were to attempt to absorb the arm's power; however, this was a risk he was willing to take, especially if it meant that he could use it to defeat the Black Wizard.

Natsu began unraveling the wrapping around his arm. As soon as it was off completely, he felt a surge of power flow into his body. It was the power of Acnologia;. a wave of undeniable magnitude, a power that could only be wielded by one who already commanded a tremendous amount of magic and possessed an equally powerful will, both of which Natsu had. Acnologia's power quickly flowed throughout Natsu's body, joining itself with the power he already possessed. By doing this, however, the power Natsu released into his body began to manifest into something that had long been sealed away. Zeref sensed this and his eyes widened.

 _Could this be…?_ Zeref questioned himself. He hadn't expected that form to appear at such a time, though he did sense Acnologia's power within Natsu and he knew that it had to have something to do with it.

The Ankhseram Black Magic Zeref used to create each and every one of his Etherious demons, including Natsu, was a magic that fed off of evil itself. Acnologia was a force of evil, so corrupted with power that his magic itself was tainted with an aura of malevolence. By absorbing Acnologia's arm, Natsu had taken in quite a large sum of the tainted magic into himself, this magic stoked a long forgotten form within Natsu: the form of E.N.D. The demon form began to feed upon the tainted magic, slowly using it to regenerate itself; after all, it had been dormant for four hundred years, its hunger was ravenous and it needed nourishment. The evil magic was quickly absorbed. Worse so, it began to feed upon the rest of Natsu's magic.

When Natsu's Etherious form was sealed away in the book of E.N.D. by Igneel, it was as if he had been completely reborn. All the demonic power and memories from his past life were locked away for as long as magic resided within his body. With all of his old power gone, Natsu had become somewhat human, no longer did he look nor act like a demon. His old form was rendered powerless and was pushed deep into himself and even though everything from Natsu's past self was taken away, this form had been pushed so deep within his consciousness that it was almost trapped there, like a creature trapped in a cage. When this form fed upon the tainted magic of Acnologia, it began to re-awake. Once it accumulates enough power, Natsu will once again be E.N.D. It was, however, unknown whether or not his memories as E.N.D. would return. Natsu's demonic power, on the other hand, would definitely be back within his control.

Zeref knew that E.N.D. was soon to be re-awoken and although he wanted this fight, craved it, he knew better. Natsu hadn't been in control of his old power in nearly four centuries, if he turned into E.N.D. at that time, his uncontrolled might would be enough to ravage and destroy the entire city. Nothing would stand in his way, not even the Fairy Tail guild hall, meaning Fairy Heart would be destroyed along with it. Zeref had to act in order to stop this from happening.

Natsu was unable to move, he was gripped by the ancient power within him as it slowly ate away at his magic. He simply stood there, struggling to understand what it was that was draining him and why. Taking advantage of this, Zeref walked over to his brother and set the palm of his hand on Natsu's forehead. Using his Black Magic, Zeref willed the demonic form within Natsu to return to its slumber, at least until the time was right for it to re-awake. Natsu, overcome by Zeref's magic, fell to the ground, unconscious.

Zeref silently looked down at his fallen brother.

"You've grown so much, Natsu." He quietly said. Seeing his brother helpless on the ground like that almost brought a tear to Zeref's eye. It reminded him of the painful memory of the day, four hundred years ago, that he found out that Natsu did not make it through life, that he had died. Zeref quickly collected himself; if he stayed there too long, he risked caring for life once again, and if he cared for life, it meant that the curse would quickly kill Natsu as he was helpless in his unconscious state.

With one last look at his brother, he walked to the edge of the airship and jumped off. In spite of his best efforts, a lone tear streaked down Zeref's cheek as he spiraled toward the ground. Once again, despite the fact that he needed to to be uncaring for life, he hoped that his own life would end some time soon. He no longer wanted to be under the influence of the contradictory curse. Unfortunately, this hope of his only further solidified his hate for the world.

As Zeref had said to Acnologia: if the world wanted to constantly reject him, he would reject it back.

* * *

 **A/N: Alright! That took some time to write, so sorry about that. I don't mean to make excuses, but like last time, stuff was happening the past week so I didn't get that many opportunities to work on the story. About the previous chapter, I was looking it over the day after I uploaded it and I saw some weird mistakes I somehow missed when it was uploaded** **. I noticed that this usually happens when I upload a chapter to the document manager, it gets messed up in a few places. I fixed the mistakes, so if you guys wanna look over that last chapter again, go ahead. Also, I tried putting in a link to a picture I wanted you guys to see on the chapter, but it doesn't seem to go through whenever I put it in. Guess you can't put links in the chapters or something, I don't know. Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter and please review! :D**


	6. Crimson Blood

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter 6: _Crimson Blood_  
**

Blood. Blood everywhere. The Etherious soldiers, despite their regeneration abilities, could not withstand dismemberment; it seemed that if their limbs were to be destroyed, the soldiers could easily be defeated. It took Fairy Tail two hours of fighting to realize this. The result? Blood. Erza especially had taken a prominent role in cutting as many of the demon soldiers to pieces, causing the red liquid to splatter everywhere.

It may be hard to realize, but deep down, she was absolutely disgusted by the sight of blood. The very thought that she was forced to spill the blood of multitudes of enemy soldiers in order to survive shamed her. But she had to do it. She didn't have time to stand around convincing herself, this was life and death.

The same went for the rest of the others. They were forced to use their magics to rip and tear every one of the enemy to pieces. It haunted them. The only thing that kept them going was the need to survive at any cost and the fact that these soldiers were demons, not humans, so they deserved what they got. Still, it was hard, and many times, one of them would hesitate to kill one of the soldiers. This only prolonged the battle, causing Fairy Tail to take unnecessary casualties. Despite this, however, every five thousand of the soldiers was killed and what seemed like the impossible was achieved: victory.

It was dead silent after the battle. An eerie, haunting silence that was suddenly shattered by a sound. This sound grew louder as the seconds passed, emanating from the entrance of the guild hall. Clapping. There he was, emerging from the shadows, slowly clapping his hands as he walked into the guild. It was Zeref.

He had a serious expression about his face as he walked in and looked at each of Fairy Tail's members.

"Well, I shouldn't be surprised. It was a bit obvious that regeneration abilities wouldn't count toward the loss of appendages. In the end, though, they did their jobs well." He smiled. "This will make it all the more easier for me."

The very second Zeref finished his sentence, Erza leaped at him, her blade pointed right at his neck.

Barely moving his head to acknowledge the attack, Zeref grabbed the blade of Erza's katana mid-strike, a line of blood forming across his palm. Somehow beating her strength, Zeref angled the blade away from himself. His expression changed from calm to furious as he closed his other hand on the blade. Twisting it around, Zeref pushed the blade toward Erza, the hilt hitting her in the chest and knocking the air out of her lungs. Under normal circumstances, she would've easily endured a hit like that, but the force at which the hilt hit her was monstrous; it took her completely off-guard.

Taking advantage of Erza's distress, Zeref wrenched the sword out of her hands and grabbed its hilt, pointing the tip of the blade right at Erza's face. How had she been outsmarted so easily? Furthermore, why hadn't her sword simply disappeared the moment it left her hands like it usually did? This was the extent of Zeref's power, it seemed. But Erza was not to be defeated easily, she quickly re-quipped and began fighting Zeref once more. A couple of the others, Freed and Laxus, joined Erza's fight as well. Their strategy of attack should have easily defeated the Black Wizard, with Erza hitting close with her re-quips, Laxus attacking mid to close range, and Freed supporting from long range. Yet, somehow Zeref kept countering their strategy by attacking close range with the katana he stole from Erza and from long range with his Black Magic.

Halfway through the fight, Zeref suddenly got down on one knee and raised both his arms up, pointing one of his palms at Laxus and the other at Freed, both of which were standing at opposite sides of him.

"Pillar of Eternal Darkness!" As Zeref spoke the incantation, both his eyes completely turned a deep, dark color and black magic shot out of his palms.

The attack hit Laxus and Freed, sending them flying back. Somehow, just like that, they were taken out of the fighting; defeated.

Erza stared, shocked. "You'll pay for that!" She screamed, and re-quipped into her Heaven's Wheel armor.

The fight intensified as Zeref met Erza's dual swords head on with an an array of acrobatic jumps, kicks and flips.

Erza was surprised by the way Zeref quickly went from a defensive stance focused on countering her attacks, to a completely offense-oriented, acrobatic way of fighting.

His style of attack was arguably difficult to dodge as each slice from the katana he was wielding was followed by a jump-kick and a melee attack that always varied each time he did it. That is, until he made an obvious mistake: he jabbed forward with the blade of the katana right at Erza's stomach, leaving the rest of his body exposed and unguarded. She sidestepped it and slashed both of her swords right at Zeref's face. Except, this was all part of his plan. In the blink of an eye, Zeref lifted the palm of his hand right in front of the incoming blades. Rather than cut right through his hand, the swords connected with an orb of object manipulation magic that Zeref had gathered into his palm. What sounded like an explosion followed as the swords were completely blown right out of her grip. Before Erza could even re-quip into a different armor and attack back, Zeref had already jumped into the air, spun, and kicked Erza with a force so powerful that she, like Freed and Laxus, went flying back. She crashed into a wall and it crumbled under her weight.

"That takes care of that." Zeref said, as he landed on his feet. His tone was so casual, as if he was taking care of a mundane task rather than fighting in a war against Fairy Tail.

Each and every one of the others that tried to fight Zeref would be defeated in the same manner. It was terrible.

The brutal defeat of every single one of her friends was enough to drive Mavis to tears. She could only cry as she watched them all fall by Zeref's hand. After literally every single one of the others was defeated, somehow even Makarov, Zeref walked over to Mavis.

"Why? Why would you do this..." She desperately asked him. "This isn't you, Zeref! I know it isn't. This isn't..."

"Isn't what?" Zeref said, an annoyed look about his face.

"This isn't the man I accepted! I accepted you for the fact that I'm the only one who ever shared your pain, I'm the only one who ever experienced the curse the way you did; because I know you aren't someone who deserves this world's infinite rejection. You're a kind person, Zeref. You shouldn't be hurting people like this. I know you. You can't let that curse control you like it does. Don't let the curse of contradiction turn you into someone else! But now look at you, completely going against yourself, going against what you believe. You've changed, Zeref. When did you change?" She asked him.

Zeref met Mavis's pleading eyes solemnly. "This world has wronged me. It has ruined my life, killed those around me, taken away the only one who could understand my pain." He told her. "Listen to me, Mavis. I have to show this world and everyone in it who I am, what I strive to achieve, and why."

"But that doesn't mean you have to kill to make your point, Zeref! Hurting others won't solve anything, it only makes things worse!" Mavis desperately told him.

"Then what do you want me to do!? Isolate myself in the middle of some forest somewhere, completely forgetting all the things that have happened to me? This world and everyone in it must pay! This age has come to an end and I am the one to bring forth its demise." Zeref stated.

"You...you're not the man I loved!" Mavis screamed at him, tears once again streaming down her cheeks. She fell onto her knees, crying all the more.

Despite all that, despite his undying determination to make the world pay for what had happened to him, Zeref was taken aback by Mavis's statement.

Had he gone too far? Was his decision to bring about the death of all of the world's inhabitants enough to turn Mavis against him once and for all? Zeref looked down at her.

Her crying form racked him. He couldn't bear to watch the girl he so dearly loved distraught the way she was. He so incredibly wanted to bend down and caress her cheek, to tell her it would all be alright, that he hadn't really changed. But he could only hate. He could only hate the world for doing this to him. If it wasn't for the world, he wouldn't be standing there, watching Mavis crying. He wouldn't be the man he was now. Yet, another part of him, his true self, still desperately clung to the hope that Natsu might still be able to defeat him. However, this hope was shrouded by yet another secret he would be forced to reveal to Natsu sooner or later. It was a secret that pained Zeref whenever he thought of it.

All of a sudden, he heard footsteps behind him. Someone was running into the guild.

"Open, gate of the lion! Leo!" It was Lucy.

Zeref turned around to see her along with a blond-haired man dressed in a suit standing some feet away. It seemed, somehow, that he'd missed Lucy in the fighting.

He acknowledged her.

"I seem to have missed a few, from the looks of it." Zeref said, putting on his signature sinister smile. He couldn't show weakness at a time like this.

"You didn't miss me! I just wasn't dumb enough to come charging right at you." Lucy said to him, glaring. "You'll pay for what you did to my friends!" She yelled.

"Oh but tell me, didn't you just come charging right at me just now?" Zeref toyed, his smile widening. Lucy was infuriated.

"So, this is the great Black Wizard I've been hearing so much about. You don't look so tough to me." Loki remarked, smirking.

"Let's see you validate that statement, Lion." Zeref challenged back.

Loki powered up his fist with Regulus magic and ran toward Zeref. Though, instead of readying himself to fight, he simply stood there and continued to smile.

"Regulus Impact!" Loki yelled as he launched his most powerful melee attack into Zeref's chest.

Zeref was pushed back a few feet from the magic of the attack but otherwise, he was completely unfazed. Loki's eyes widened as he realized this.

"What in the world..." He said as he stared at the Black Wizard.

"Don't underestimate him, Loki! Don't you see what he did to the others?" Lucy advised him.

"Yeah, looks like I-" Before Loki could even finish his sentence, Zeref had already materialized behind him. Putting both his palms to Loki's back, he fired a shockwave of object manipulation magic into his body. Loki flew forward and crashed into the ground, tumbling and turning for several feet. He didn't get back up.

Lucy was stunned to see that her finest celestial spirit had been bested so easily.

"Not so much the king of the jungle anymore, eh lion?" Zeref remarked as he walked toward Loki's limp body.

Lucy quickly raised Loki's key and got ready to send him back to the celestial spirit world. "Gate close!" At the command of her words, Loki dematerialized from the human world.

Zeref stopped in his tracks. "Well that's no fun, I was hoping I could use him for some entertainment." He turned his head toward Lucy.

She gasped at the crimson eyes and malevolent smile. The sight made her take a step back in fear.

Zeref's villainous laugh echoed through the quiet guild hall as he started toward Lucy.

Reaching for her belt, she got ready to summon another one of her spirits. Just as she was about to grab Capricorn's key, however, her entire set of keys flew from her belt into Zeref's hand.

He silently regarded the keys in his palm.

"We don't need these spoiling the fun, now do we?"

* * *

 _Zeref's flagship_

Natsu's eyes fluttered open. The first thing he felt as he sat up was a massive headache.

"What...happened?" Natsu questioned himself. All he could recall was unwrapping the cloth around his arm during the fight and feeling a surge of power, he remembered nothing after that. He must have blacked out for some reason.

Looking around, Natsu saw that Zeref was long gone. It was bad enough that he'd completely blacked out in the middle of battle, now Zeref had escaped. In frustration, Natsu pounded his fist on the deck of the ship. The force he'd put into it wasn't even all that much, yet the deck splintered so easily.

"Woah..." Natsu awed, flexing his hand. When did he get this much power? What was even weirder, it seemed, was the fact that his terrible motion sickness wasn't bothering him, despite that he was standing on an airship. Now that he thought of it, even at the very moment that he landed on the ship, his motion sickness had never bothered him once.

His head felt weird too and it wasn't the headache he was feeling, it was his skull itself. Feeling his head, Natsu noticed two distinct bumps near the front of his skull. They weren't noticeable enough to protrude from his hair, but they were still very weird as he'd never had them before. What in the world was happening to him? First the freakish increase in power, then his motion sickness going away, now this. It was as if Natsu was changing in some way, and he wasn't particularly fond of it; like it or not, though, he still had to apprehend Zeref while he still had time. But what time did he even have left? Who knew how long he'd been unconscious?

Suddenly, what sounded like an explosion tore Natsu's gaze down to the ground. Looking down, he saw that the airship was hovering not too far from the guild hall. It must have been Zeref, the others were likely fighting him at that moment.

Natsu gripped the railing of the deck and pulled himself over. As he began to fall toward the ground, Natsu decided it was the perfect time he'd make use of an ability that he hadn't practiced since his fight with Jellal in the Tower of Heaven: it was a magic in which he utilized flames in his feet to propel himself through the air, a technique that allowed sustained flight. It was a pretty useful ability for when Happy wasn't with him. Wait. It just dawned on him that Happy wasn't there with him. Panicking, Natsu looked around the air to see if the little blue cat was flying around anywhere nearby. Before the battle, Natsu had made Happy agree to get a safe distance away, for his own safety. Happy wasn't in the air though, which must have meant that he'd returned to the guild hall. Natsu focused more of his magic energy into the fire at his feet. It wasn't that Natsu didn't believe in his friend's strength, he just had a feeling that he absolutely had to get to the guild hall as fast as he could, that the safety of the others depended on it.

The flight took only a few minutes. Natsu landed in front of the guild hall and made his way in.

The sight before him was terrible. There was blood all over the ground, the bodies and body parts of Alvarez soldiers littering the floor along with it. His eyes widened as realized a horrible detail that he'd somehow missed at first: all of his friends were laying on the ground too, strewn about the guild hall. Their clothes were tattered, burned, and sliced. They looked as if they'd been through Hell itself. What really caught his attention, though, was what was going on in the middle of the guild hall. Standing right there was Zeref, and to top it all off, he was holding Lucy up by the throat.

"So...from what I can garner from looking into your mind," Zeref said. "is that you and Natsu are close...very close."

"Yeah and what's it to you?" Lucy was barely able to speak, yet she defiantly struggled against Zeref's iron grip.

Natsu couldn't take it anymore. His rage was an inferno and he was about to unleash it upon the Black Wizard.

Lucy noticed Natsu in the entrance of the guild. Zeref followed her gaze to the entrance. Turning around, he saw that his brother was standing there, watching. What piqued Zeref's interest even more was Natsu's eyes. They were, quite literally, ablaze.

"Oh! Looks like I've angered you." Zeref said. His tone was mocking. Then, he did something that angered Natsu even more: he threw Lucy onto the ground in front of him.

"Go on. Run over to your boyfriend, little princess." Zeref said to her. This time, his tone sounded as evil as ever.

Though she hated herself for not fighting, Lucy got up and ran over to where Natsu was standing.

"Why didn't you wait for me?" Natsu looked at her, his expression worried.

"I...I couldn't just let him get away with this, with what he did to our friends!" Lucy replied.

"I can't blame you. I wouldn't have liked it either, in fact, I don't like it all." He told her. "Still, you need to be more careful, this guy is trouble."

Zeref suddenly began to laugh. "You two are so cute. Two lovers, looking out for each other in a time of war...I almost feel like I'm in one of those cheesy romantic movies." The remark came purely from Zeref's bitterness. He'd been through love before and it hadn't gone his way, so seeing his brother in what seemed like a relationship with Lucy wasn't what he was expecting. Deep down, Zeref was happy to see that his brother was living a good life without him. On the surface, however, his contradictory self wanted nothing but to show his resent toward love.

"Zeref. I'm gonna make you pay for this!" Natsu said, challenging the Black Wizard openly.

Instead of readying himself to fight, Zeref just stood there with a look of wonder expressed in his eyes and face.

 _He's turning into…_ Zeref realized. _So, E.N.D. will soon be upon us._

It wasn't Zeref's fault, but the more Natsu fought him, the closer and closer he got to re-awakening E.N.D. It was because the Black Arts and black magic that Zeref practiced when he fought was constantly consumed by Natsu's body the more it was used against him.

At first, Zeref's black magic did nothing, but when Natsu unleashed Acnologia's power, it spurred the form of E.N.D. and began the process of re-awakening; Zeref's black magic only further added to this process by acting as a fuel to the form. The more he fought against Natsu with his magic, the more Natsu's inner form of E.N.D. continued to get stronger and stronger. At this point, it was only a matter of time before E.N.D. would re-awake.

Realizing this, Zeref decided to take advantage of the situation. He raised his arm and fired a strong concentration of black magic at the unsuspecting Natsu.

It hit him, but instead of simply causing him damage, the magic began to swirl around Natsu's body.

"What is this!?" Natsu shouted. He didn't understand what was happening. "Lucy! Get away from here, I can tell this is gonna get bad." He warned her.

Lucy obeyed and ran in the other direction of the fight, ducking behind some rubble for cover.

The black magic continued to swirl around Natsu's body, but other than that, it had no effect on him whatsoever.

"So what is this stuff anyway? Some kind of a magic of yours to make me weaker so you can take me down easier or something?" Natsu questioned the Black Wizard. "Because if it is, just know that you can't beat me that easily." Natsu then got into a fighting stance.

"You'll soon find out." Zeref replied, then snapped his fingers. Nothing happened at first, but after a few seconds, the magic swirling around Natsu began to swirl faster and faster. A minute passed, then the black magic stopped its circular motion completely. The magic then pointed itself at Natsu and absorbed into his body, causing him to stagger back.

Natsu threw his head back and began to scream. Lucy's eyes widened as she tried to comprehend what was happening to Natsu; she was just as oblivious to what was happening as he was.

Still screaming, Natsu fell to his knees. "What…is this!" He shouted as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

Zeref eyed his brother. _Now, he should be stuck like this for a time. I'll be able to continue my plan undeterred. Well that is, until THAT awakens…_

Zeref walked over to one of the dead demon soldiers laying on the ground and used his Black Arts magic to resurrect it. He did the same thing to three more of the demon soldiers.

"You four will be aiding me in my plan." He informed them.

"Yes, my Emperor!" They all said in unison. Zeref took one last look at Natsu.

Lucy was at his side, but otherwise, he was still on his knees.

"Forgive me Natsu..." Zeref quietly said, then turned around and headed in the other direction, the soldiers quickly following behind him.

* * *

 **A/N: So how is it? I haven't made Zeref too much of an A-hole, have I? XD Also, don't worry, Fairy Tail's members aren't dead, I wouldn't kill them off that easily; they're just...unconscious. I hope you guys like this chapter and tell me what you think in the reviews, it helps :D**


	7. The Voice

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter 7: _The Voice_  
**

Between all of the pain he was experiencing, Natsu was asking himself one question: why? Was there any reason for all this hatred, all this malice he would feel in the presence of Zeref? He felt naive asking the question; after all, he'd always known that there were wicked people in the world. This one time, this one occasion however, he felt that there was more to it than the simple desire to do evil. In fact, he was sure of it. Zeref always distinguished himself as being as evil as evil itself, but even he had to have a reason for all the killing he'd done in the span of nearly four hundred years.

His question of course went unanswered. The pain was beginning to subside and he'd just realized that he was regaining consciousness again. Natsu had passed out some time after the magic Zeref had blasted him with had absorbed into his body.

He slowly opened his eyes.

"I think he's awake!" A voice Natsu was all too familiar with said. It was Gray. At the sight him, Natsu recalled that Gray was also unconscious on the ground when he walked into the guild, so seeing him awake was confusing. He examined his surroundings. It was the guild infirmary and he was laying on one of the beds. Freed and Laxus were resting on the other beds nearby as well. He noticed, also, that right there with her head laying on his chest was Lucy, fast asleep.

Natsu slowly lifted his hand and touched her cheek lightly. Her eyes squinted open at the contact. Lucy gasped when she saw that he was awake.

"N-natsu!" She threw her arms around him and buried her face into his shoulder. "You've been asleep for hours, I was so worried..." She didn't have to say it, her concern for him showed aptly in her voice.

"What, you think I'm gonna kick the bucket that easily, Luce?" Natsu asked her, smiling. He felt at ease to know that Lucy and, though he didn't like admitting it, Gray were both alright and there with him.

A snort of laughter came from the ice wizard's general direction.

"What is it?" Natsu looked over at him, unaware as to how obvious he and Lucy looked at that moment.

"Oh, I see how it is..." Gray said, grinning. Natsu realized that he was paying especially close attention to the way Lucy was holding on to him so tightly.

"What, no! It's not what you think..." Natsu tried to explain.

Lucy caught on to Gray's mockery and quickly let go of Natsu. Her cheeks were reddened with embarrassment, but she tried to act normal.

The both them really had no reason to hide their relationship with each other from the others, especially Gray; it was just an embarrassing reluctance that was held them back. After all, the others in the guild were always teasing the two about how they were in love, jokingly of course. Except, their joke was right on point; both of them held love in their hearts for each other even back then. Admitting that the others were correct was the very source of Natsu and Lucy's embarrassment.

"Well, look who's awake!" Erza was standing in the doorway, smiling in satisfaction at Natsu's recovery.

Natsu looked at her, surprised. He wondered if all of his friends had recovered before him.

Noticing that Erza was covered with bandages all over her body, he grew concerned.

"What happened to you?"He questioned her.

Before she could answer, someone in the hallway spoke first, "I'll tell you what happened to her," Porlyusica said, as she walked into the infirmary. Her usual scowl was on her face, except this time, she seemed quite angry. "Zeref happened."

She continued, "I tried to get here as soon as I heard of the attack, but there were too many of those damned Alvarez. I couldn't get anywhere near and there definitely wasn't any way I was getting inside when they pushed you guys back into the guild hall," She explained. "By the time the battle was done and over, I walked in to find the guild walls and ground covered with blood and you along with everyone else except for Lucy here, unconscious."

"Wait, that's what happened? I wasn't here, I was fighting Zeref on his airship. A...part of my plan to stop him went wrong and he got away. I followed him down here and found exactly what you did, everyone knocked out on the ground." Natsu told her. It was hard for him to believe that the others had been pushed back by the Alvarez army so easily. After all, they had been able to defeat waves and waves of them in the battles before.

"I'll explain," Erza said to him, stepping forward. She recounted the entire battle to Natsu, telling him of the demon soldiers they encountered and making sure that he knew that the only reason they were able retreat back into the guild hall was because of the fact that his battle had delayed the remaining Alvarez soldiers from getting to them in time. She also informed him of August's assistance in keeping the enemy from breaking into the guild hall and allowing them to prepare for when they actually did get in.

"I don't think we would have lasted even a few minutes against all five thousand of them if it wasn't for the guild's close quarters working to our advantage. We still didn't know how to defeat the enemy though...it took us two hours to realize what we had to do. In the end, the only way to survive meant that we had to...to..." The shock of what she and the others were forced to do was still fresh in her mind as she spoke. She looked down, unable to continue speaking.

"You had to do what, Erza? What is it?" Natsu asked her. He was eager to know what had happened to his friends at the hands of Zeref and his men.

"We had to cut them apart...every single one of them. Dismember them, to be more precise. It was...terrible." She said, her eyes unwilling to look at Natsu. "I...I can't believe we did something like that...I-"

"Stop, Erza." Natsu commanded, his expression stern.

She looked up at him.

"You did what you had to do, there's nothing to be ashamed of. I would have done the very same thing in your position. No one, no matter if they're human or demon, will hurt my friends. I'd make sure they'd never even think of doing it. I've never seen you falter on protecting your friends, Erza; now is not the time to start. What you did was right." He said to her.

Erza felt like she was alright again, Natsu's words helped her regain her senses. She also noticed that he seemed to act a lot more mature than she was normally used to. She brushed it off, knowing that anyone could be serious when the circumstances called for it, Natsu was no exception to her.

"Alright. We were able to defeat them all, but...they really wore us out. A few minutes after the fight, Zeref appeared. We still thought you were fighting him so when he walked into the guild, we feared the worst. He said that his demon soldiers did their jobs well and that they made it easy for him. Me, Freed and Laxus went for him first. We...we didn't even stand a chance." She admitted, feeling shame that she'd failed to protect the others from Zeref. "He beat us and went straight for everyone else. I don't remember anything after he knocked me out. I guess Porlyusica found us some time later." She looked over at her.

"I did. I also found Mavis as well. The poor girl was crying her eyes out, wouldn't even tell me why." She informed them.

"She told me something though: that she wanted to speak to you guys as soon as Natsu woke up."

"She did? I don't think we should keep her waiting any longer, then." Erza said.

"Let's go." Natsu quickly got up from the infirmary bed he was sitting on, but as soon as he stood up on his legs, his head throbbed with a pain that he couldn't possibly bear.

"Agh!" He gripped his head and nearly fell onto his knees if it wasn't for the help of Gray, who quickly darted to Natsu's side as soon as he looked like he was going to fall.

"I've never known you to act like this, Natsu, are you alright?" Gray asked him.

Natsu didn't even have any idea what it was that was ailing him in the first place. "It's...nothing. I think I can stand on my own." He said.

Gray promptly let go of Natsu. He'd known him long enough to know that when Natsu said that he was alright, he was definitely alright.

"Don't push yourself, you could-" Gray stopped speaking and began to stare intently at Natsu.

"...What?" Natsu questioned, confused by the sudden change of demeanor in Gray.

"Uh...it's…don't worry about it." Gray wasn't sure what it was he was sensing, but he was doubtless that it radiated from Natsu. The more he focused on it, though, the more he knew he was sensing something of tremendous power, something of pure evil: a demon, and a powerful one at that. As he was an ice devil slayer, he could sense demons pretty easily, but he never would have anticipated sensing the presence of one in Natsu. What confused him the most was that he hadn't once felt the presence while Natsu was asleep, only at that moment that he was about to fall that Gray felt it.

Dismissing his thoughts, he decided that there wasn't any way someone like Natsu, a friend, could be a demon; it just didn't seem probable to him. As always, though, Gray stuck to his cautious habits.

"Well...we should go and see what Mavis wants." He said to them and headed toward the hallway.

The four of them, Natsu, Lucy, Gray, and Erza, walked into the guild promenade. Every one of the other guild members were there, each of them wearing bandages all over their bodies. They all looked solemn, to say the least. There was a depressed feeling in the air, Natsu noticed. Something bad had happened, something even worse than Zeref's assault.

Upon seeing the party approaching, Mavis walked over to them.

Mavis always appeared to the others in her ethereal form, yet somehow her eyes were bloodshot from tears, her hair messed up, and she looked, visibly, very tired.

"H-hello guys." She greeted them weakly.

"Mavis, what is it you wanted to tell to me about?" Natsu asked her, getting to the point as quick as he could.

"It's...bad news. Zeref he's...he's taken Fairy Heart. He took advantage of everyone else being unconscious and stole it. We couldn't stop him." She informed him. Her expression was somber, like she felt that she was the one who had failed to stop Zeref, rather than the others.

It was all Natsu could do to stop himself from exploding into a fit of pure rage. He, like Mavis, felt as if he'd completely failed.

"I'm discussing with Makarov and the others a plan of how we'll try to get it back. Though, for once in my life, I feel like I can't even think of anything," Mavis admitted, her eyes wide. She looked like she would burst into tears again at any moment.

"Are you feeling well, Mavis?" Erza worriedly asked her. "You don't usually talk like this. I'm sorry, it's just...I think it's because we've gotten used to your usual cheery self."

Mavis smiled a little at her comment. "Don't worry, I think we all would rather be happy and cheerful right now rather than hurt and stressed about this war we've been entangled in. It just shows that right now, more than any other time, we need to be vigilant and ready for anything. Anyway, I need to ask something of you, Natsu. You three as well, Gray, Lucy, and Erza," she acknowledged each of the them. "While me and the others try to come up with a plan for retaking Fairy Heart, I need you three to rest up. You'll be instrumental in anything we come up with, I'm sure of it. It could take hours to create any plan under our current circumstances, which is why I think you all should take advantage of what time we have to rest up." She suggested.

"But we don't have that time!" Natsu shouted, bringing all attention to himself. "Zeref is out there right now, he could be doing anything! The problem is, he CAN do anything, he has Fairy Heart now. I really think we should make a move against him...now."

"But we can't just rush him, Natsu. Everyone is hurt, Zeref deliberately did this to us because he knew we wouldn't be able to pursue him as quickly as we could have. The fact that he went to such lengths shows how confident he was in himself and his powers. It's like he knew he was powerful enough to take us all head on, that he'd be able to defeat every one of us. Even when some of the others tried to get away, he still got them. Sadly, just as he'd planned, we've been crippled. We...we just can't do anything." Mavis told him. It felt strange for her to admit it, as it still perplexed her as to how easily Zeref was able to defeat the others the way he did.

Natsu felt very frustrated at Mavis's reply. Usually, he could understand if a little time and patience was what he needed to be able to solve a problem like this. Except this time, he felt a deep unwillingness to be patient. He wanted to finish things with Zeref right then and there. Natsu's voice dropped as he spoke his next words, his expression dark.

"I think you've known me long enough, Mavis, to know that I won't just sit around when someone like Zeref is on the loose! Even if it kills me, I'll find him and I'll-" The sudden throbbing pain in his head returned out of nowhere. Just as before, he fell to his knees, holding his forehead in agony.

"Natsu!" Lucy, once again concerned for him, crouched at his side.

 _What is this!?_ Natsu asked himself frantically. It was so confusing to him how randomly the pain would hit.

"I...I'm alright," He said to Lucy. Like back in the infirmary, it subsided almost just as quickly as it came.

He got back up on his legs and, looking at Mavis, noticed that she was just as concerned for him as Lucy.

"Natsu, are you ok-?!" Mavis hurriedly asked him, despite the fact that he'd already confirmed that he was feeling better.

"Yeah. It seems like this keeps happening to me, I get this painful throbbing in my head and I feel like I can't even stand on my legs. It's pretty irritating. It won't stop me from fighting though, I won't let it." Natsu said, annoyed. He decided to treat the sudden attacks like a petty nuisance rather than something serious, unbeknownst to what their true meaning was.

"Natsu, you seem a little too nonchalant about these head pains you're getting. You really should listen to Mavis's suggestion and rest." Erza advised him.

"I don't have time for that! I already said I couldn't just sit around while Zeref's doing whatever he wants. I can't just..." Natsu looked down at his hand, which he'd clenched into a fist.

He just didn't know what to do.

"Forget it then. I'm going." He turned around and walked off in the other direction.

"Wait, Natsu!" Lucy called out as she followed behind him.

Mavis sighed. "Why does he have to be so eager to fight?"

"He's always been like that," Gray answered her. "It's like he just doesn't know patience. He seems different this time, though."

Then, Mavis said something that caused Erza and Gray to look at her with complete awe.

"He almost reminds me of Zeref...but...I don't know why. I just have a feeling..."

* * *

In frustration, Natsu had walked into one of the back hallways of the guild hall. He sighed as he slumped against a wall, looking up at the ceiling.

"Dammit, why…"

"Natsu..." Lucy said as she followed him into the hallway.

"Why can't they just understand, Lucy?" He asked her, still looking up. "They just don't get it..."

"Get what, Natsu? That you just can't stop fighting?" She demanded, staring at him.

"You know that's not what I mean."

"Well that's what it sounds like."

"I fight because I have to."

"But that can't really mean you have to push yourself to your limits, does it? Are you just going to keep fighting and fighting until you end up dead, having done nothing?"

The question made Natsu look down at her.

"You can't keep doing this to yourself." Lucy said softly. "You worry me sometimes. Natsu, I have so much confidence in you, but when you go running into battle so quickly, sometimes I feel...I feel like you're not coming back."

She walked toward him and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his shoulder. He put his arms around her in return.

"I won't let that happen." Natsu whispered in her ear.

For the longest time, the two of them just stood there wrapped in each others' embrace. Natsu couldn't believe himself when he realized that he loved the quiet feeling of the hallway. He was always fighting, or spending time with his friends, or something else, but he never really took much time out his life to simply enjoy the quiet, serene feeling that was so rare to find, yet so enjoyable to experience.

Still, there was always something in the world that yearned to snatch away that quietness. This time, it was a voice.

 _Come_

Natsu's head snapped up. The voice sounded far and close at the same time. He listened.

 _Come to me…Natsu_

His eyes flicked around the hallway, trying to find the origin of the voice. Natsu's head was turning so furiously that Lucy noticed and looked at him.

"Is there something wrong, Natsu?" She asked him.

The voice seemed to have quieted.

"No, it's nothing. Come on, I think the others will be worried if we don't go back."

The two of them walked back to the guild promenade, hand in hand. Before anyone could notice them, Natsu let go of Lucy's hand.

"I need to go…check something out, Lucy. I won't be long." He told her.

"Alright then I-I'll talk to you later." She noticed a strained look on Natsu's face. Something was up.

Natsu made his way past the others to the front of the guild hall where there wasn't anyone to disturb his thoughts, right in front of the open gate. He stared up at the starry sky.

It was about midnight. The day had slipped by so quickly, Natsu realized. The events that had transpired during daylight were all a blur in Natsu's mind. Everything seemed so pointless; all of their efforts in vain. Fighting, pain, success...ultimate failure, it had all happened and it had happened with a quickness that was just...unbelievable.

And then the mysterious voice. As if on cue with Natsu's thoughts, he heard it again.

 _Find me, Natsu_

"...never." Natsu said, knowing that it had to have heard him. "I'll never let you lure me."

He waited for a response from the voice, but nothing came. After a few minutes, Natsu turned around, only to be stopped completely.

 _YOU WILL FIND ME OR I WILL SLAUGHTER EVERY LAST ONE OF THEM_

The volume of the voice's scream was so loud that Natsu crouched down, his hands over his ears.

He took caution not to draw attention to himself with his next words, "Who are you?! Is it you, Zeref? Are you trying to single me out so you can get me to fight you?" He demanded.

 _No, Natsu…I am not Zeref_

"Then who are you?!" Natsu could barely contain himself.

 _I...am you_

* * *

 **A/N: Alright, explaining time. This is gonna be long but please read, it's important. I just felt like I should explain why I haven't uploaded anything in the past couple of months. Or why I didn't upload anything for some months before I uploaded chapter 7. So here it is: I haven't the foggiest idea. I mean, some would come up with an excuse, or some kind of complicated explanation - I honestly don't know. I always find myself opening libre office to work on my chapters and then 15 minutes later, I close it having done nothing. I don't why this keeps happening. A friend of mine who is also working on her own Fairy Tail fanfiction tells me she has the same problem, so at least I'm not alone. Luckily for me (and for you guys) I haven't been doing totally NOTHING all this time; In all of the time I've been away, I've been thinking very hard about exactly how the future of this story will be going. There are things I have been doing as well, such as looking at maps of Earthland and Fiore, reading the latest chapters of the manga, touching up on my previous chapters (mistakes and such), and the conclusion is this: I've gone and made myself VERY excited. There's going to be a lot, and I mean a LOT, of stuff happening in the future, stuff that I'm very much looking forward to writing. In addition, there's going to be a part two to this story. It won't be an entire sequel, just a transition in this same story into a new set of events that will be happening. Expect large portions of Hiro Mashima's past events in the Fairy Tail plot to be changed. Let me give an example: If you've seen the entire map of Earthland in Fairy Tail, you already know that there's a crap ton of countries other than Fiore, countries that Mashima said he would not be progressing the story into. This kinda frustrates me, so I decided that these other countries will have a lot to do with my own story and how it plays out. And that's just ONE thing. Like I said, it's very exciting for me to think about. Anyway, I've made this about long enough lol. As always PLEASE REVIEW! I need to know your thoughts on the chapters guys, you don't know how much it helps! Thanks a lot. P.S. What do you guys think of the chapter names I put in? Tell me in the reviews :)**


	8. The END of Natsu Dragneel

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter** **8** _: **The E.N.D. of Natsu Dragneel**  
_

"What?! That can't...no...how?" Natsu didn't know what to think of what he was hearing.

 _It is the truth, I am you. I will go no further into detail. You will find me in the inner circle of Magnolia, come to me. Or...perhaps you would like to see them all dead as I threatened earlier?_

"You...you bastard..." Natsu was seething with fury.

 _You can call me anything you want. Bastard, monster, killer, demon...just realize that all you're doing is calling yourself those names._

The last one caught Natsu's attention.

"Demon…?"

* * *

Meanwhile, not to Natsu's knowledge, a certain Ice mage was freaking out.

Gray was once again feeling the demon presence he'd felt earlier in Natsu. This time around, however, it was different. He felt it very strongly nearby, though if he concentrated enough he could also feel it far away as well.

Gray began searching with his both his senses and his eyes all over the guild. His search stopped as his gaze fell upon Natsu.

The dragon slayer was crouching on the ground, Gray observed, a stricken look on his face. He silently made his way over to Natsu.

"Hey man, what're you doing?" he asked as he looked down. Natsu's head snapped up. A wild look was in his eye, a look that Gray had seen many a time before: desperation.

"I, uh, was just..." Natsu stalled as he stood up and leveled himself with Gray.

"Just what?" Gray asked, suspicious. "You're not acting normal at all, Natsu. I'll ask you again, are you feeling well? Because it really doesn't seem like you are to me."

The voice spoke in Natsu's mind once again.

 _Oooh, I don't like this guy at all. How about killing him, Natsu? Or, should I say, how about I kill him?_

"Dammit, shut up!" Natsu said to the voice, forgetting that Gray was standing right there listening in.

"What was that, Natsu?" he asked, even more suspicious than before.

Natsu returned his attention to Gray. "Look, I'm going through a lot right now. Things are...complicated."

"Complicated?" Gray inquired. "What's so complicated about going through a lot of things?"

Natsu didn't answer.

"Listen to me, Natsu. I know you're lying. You think I was born yesterday? You need to tell me what's really going on. Now." Gray demanded.

Natsu knew there wasn't any fooling Gray. The guy could sniff out a lie better than anyone he'd ever met.

Just as Natsu was about to try and explain everything that had happened, the loud sounds of marching and the clanking of armor wrenched both his and Gray's attention away from each other to the open gate of the guild hall.

All conversations and talking within the hall were silenced as a man flanked by four other men entered. Behind him, outside of the guild doors, was an army of royal soldiers.

The man himself was the White Knight of the Fioren royal army and the chief of the Cherry Blossom Holy Knight Squadron, Arcadios. He also appeared to be dressed for battle, as he was wearing his White Lily armor.

"Greetings, Fairy Tail!" he loudly addressed them, walking toward where Makarov and the others stood.

As much as he wanted to stay and see why Arcadios was there, Natsu knew that he had to get to the inner circle of the city as the voice had told him, or else the others were in danger. Taking the opportunity of Gray's attention being diverted, he turned and walked away.

"This isn't over, Natsu!" the Ice Mage called after him.

Natsu looked back. Gray was glaring at him.

"I know." Natsu replied, then continued walking toward the guild doors. He made his way outside where the royal soldiers all stood in their formation in front of the guild hall. One of the officers approached Natsu.

"Um, sir. We'll be needing you here." he said.

"What for?" Natsu eyed the man.

"Well, didn't Arcadios explain?" the officer asked.

Natsu figured a good idea would be to pretend that he knew exactly what was going on in order to fool the man into letting him leave.

"Uh, yeah he did. He personally asked me to go and...take care of some business for him. Very important stuff, wouldn't want to delay him." Natsu put on his best sophisticated act as he lied to the officer.

"Oh! Of course, of course. I won't stop you. You may pass." The man seemed to have fallen for the trick.

Natsu thanked the man and continued on his way to the inner circle. As he walked, he passed by quite a lot of destroyed houses, shops, and buildings. He found himself getting quite frustrated at the sight of his town in ruins, all because of Zeref.

 _Yesss, that fiery anger of yours Natsu. That's exactly what I like to see…_

"I really hate you, you know that?" Natsu told it. "I won't forgive you for threatening to hurt my friends. You'll pay."

 _Don't you mean you won't forgive yourself?_ the voice toyed. _You should be thanking me. After all, what I'm going to give you will allow you to do whatever it is your ignorant little mind desires._

Natsu stopped. "And what's that?"

It was either twisted fortune or pure coincidence that when Natsu had stopped, he had stopped right in the inner circle that the voice had wanted him to go to, without even realizing it.

A loud laughing drew his attention to the distance.

"Come out!" Natsu demanded, his fists erupting in flames.

Slowly, a figure made its way out from behind a wrecked wall. Natsu focused on it as it walked toward him in a slow pace. Though it got closer and closer, it never really came into enough view that Natsu could analyze what it looked like. As he watched it, he realized that it seemed to be draped in a darkness around its body which was stopping him from making out any details.

When it was about ten feet in front him, the figure stopped and the darkness melted away.

Natsu couldn't believe his eyes when he saw that he was looking at a clone of himself. It wore the exact same clothes as him, looked just just him, had the same hair, and its fists were even on fire just like his own.

The clone was looking down. After a while, it raised its head and looked him directly in the eyes. Natsu saw that the imposter even sported the same black eyes as him.

"Who are you!" he yelled at it.

"Haven't I already made that clear? I am you. I couldn't be anyone else but you, could I?" The clone sounded just like Natsu, except its voice had a sinister edge to it.

"What do you want?" he queried the clone. It had to be some kind of thing sent by Zeref to bring him back, Natsu couldn't think of any other explanation.

"Only...to return what was taken. Igneel tore us apart, Natsu. Now, with the help of both Zeref and Acnologia's power, we can once again be one." It smiled. "Don't you want that?"

The clone's words confused Natsu, he didn't understand. "What are you even talking about?! Igneel? Acnologia and Zeref's power? This makes no sense!"

The clone found amusement in his confusion. "It is to be expected. After all, your memories as E.N.D. are all gone. You wouldn't get it."

"E.N.D.? Did you say...my memories as E.N.D.?" Natsu stared at the clone. "That's a complete lie! I'm not...E.N.D. I can't be..." Though he couldn't believe it at all, he had strange feeling deep inside of himself that it was true.

"Yes! Yes, yes, yes, you are. You...are E.N.D. Without any doubt in the world, what I say is true! You are-" The clone was cut off when Natsu suddenly ran at it at full speed and punched it in the chest. The force he'd put into the attack was tremendous; his arm went right through the clone, blood spurting everywhere as he realized that he'd pierced it through the heart.

The clone looked down at Natsu's arm, smiling even though it should have been dead. Blood was coming out of its mouth.

"I won't let you fool me into believing lies!" Natsu said to it, his teeth clenched in fury.

"Ohh, so ignorant. Unwilling to believe what's told to him. It's sad really, for us to have fallen so low. We used to be great, Natsu! I'll just have to hurry up and show you that what I say is true."

The clone then lifted its own arm and gripped Natsu's. Horrifyingly, the blood that was seeping out the wound turned black and started climbing onto Natsu's arm as if it had a mind of its own.

"What are you doing-?!" Natsu tried to wrench his arm out of the clone but found that he couldn't possibly do it. The wound that his attack had inflicted turned black itself and like the blood, began absorbing onto Natsu very quickly.

"Now, you will truly take your Etherious form, Natsu." The clone said, then put its arm on Natsu's chest where it began absorbing into him as well.

"No!" Natsu put his best effort into resisting, but he simply couldn't stop what was happening to him.

In a matter of seconds, the entire clone absorbed itself into Natsu, and he fell to the ground, feeling like he'd just had all of his energy sapped away. The painful headache from before was back, yet this time it was so much more unbearable than before. Natsu gripped his head with both his hands, screaming at the top of his lungs with agony.

His entire body felt like it was on fire, and not the fire he was used to – it was a fire of terrible pain.

Natsu tried to get up on his feet but could not do it. He looked at one of his arms. His skin was gaining a reddish hue to it. Not only that, but scales like the ones that usually only appeared on his face when he used his dragon force were beginning to completely replace the normal skin on his arms. His nails grew larger and sharper, while long, black tattoo-like marks were appearing all over his hands, chest, and the rest of his body.

Finally, he blacked out, unable to keep himself conscious despite his efforts to do so.

* * *

"So that's why you're here?!" Lucy gasped as Arcadios explained his random appearance.

"Yes." he confirmed. "As you may recall, the King spent some time here after the Alvarez armies attacked the kingdom. He left while you were waiting on Zeref's personal attack, is that correct?"

"Yes." Makarov answered the White Knight.

"Did he ever tell you why he left?"

"No, but we thought it was for his own personal safety. After all, Zeref did cause much damage to us in his attack." Makarov told him.

"Well, that wasn't the actual reason why he left. There was an urgent summons for him in the capital, he had to leave as soon as possible. He sent me along with a large force of royal soldiers in order to offer assistance to you." Arcadios informed him. "Unfortunately, I am unable to stay personally, only my army can. His Majesty instructed me to return once I gave command of the troops to you."

"But we don't currently have any plan at all. We wouldn't want to hold the royal soldiers here for no reason." Makarov told him.

With seemingly perfect timing to the situation, Warren received a telepathic message.

"Wait! I'm getting something, it sounds urgent. I'll relay it to the rest of you." Warren said, lifting his fingers to his forehead in order to project the message to everyone else in the room.

"This is Kagura Mikazuchi of Mermaid Heel! Requesting assistance!" It was indeed the voice of Kagura and though she tried to sound calm as she spoke, exasperation showed in her voice.

"Kagura? This is Fairy Tail. What's the situation?" Erza replied, surprised at the sound of her voice.

"Finally! We've been trying to contact you for ages! Where have you been?" This time, it was Millianna's voice.

"We didn't even realize that you were trying to contact us, we were fighting against the armies of Alvarez and against Zeref. In fact, we didn't even know that you knew about all of this!" Erza exclaimed.

"Wait, you're what? Zeref? Alvarez? Ok, no time for explaining, I'll have to tell you what happened to us first. It's a long story, but I'll do my best to give you the important points." she said. "Lamia Scale, along with Hargeon port were attacked. They contacted us, Sabertooth, Blue Pegasus, and you guys. You didn't respond to the message even though the rest of us did and when we tried to get to you on foot, we were attacked by soldiers. There was a whole lot of them, do you know who they were?"

"They're soldiers from the Alvarez Empire, from a different continent here to attack Fiore and us. I'd thought you'd at least know a little of what's been going on lately." Erza told her.

"We knew there was something happening, but nothing about an empire attacking! Anyway, we tried fighting them off but there was just too many, so we made our way down to Hargeon. The situation here is bad, there's a lot of soldiers and naval ships holding up the port and we can't even get close. We're trying to fight them but it's like they never run out! What's worse is even more Alvarez soldiers came a few hours after we arrived here, but we're not sure where they came from." Millianna informed her.

"They must be the ones that routed after we defeated them." Erza looked at Arcadios. "Why didn't you or the King ever tell us about this!" she demanded.

"We were never informed of an attack on Hargeon." he tells her. "We did, however, notice a disruption in the supplies and resources that usually flow into the capital from that port, his Majesty wanted me to ask you to investigate it, though it seems there's no need for that anymore because we now know it was an attack."

Erza returned her attention to Millianna. "There's someone here from the capital and he brought troops with him. We'll send help, you just need to hold out until we're there. How many Alvarez soldiers are holding the port?"

Kagura answered the question. "There's about three hundred attacking us right now and six thousand holding the port itself."

"Six? That's so many!" Erza looked back at Arcadios. "How many men did you bring with you?"

"Exactly seven thousand." he answered.

"It doesn't look like there's that many out there." Erza doubtingly said, glancing at the soldiers outside.

"I only brought a few hundred with me, the rest of the troops are stationed not too far from here. My men are ready for anything, you can count on them. Though, I would advise sending a few of your mages along to lead the troops." Arcadios explained.

"You heard that, right Kagura?" Erza asked her.

"Yes, I heard everything. Make sure you take that man's advice and send someone here too. I have to go, there's an attack incoming and we're barely keeping up. Good luck to you." she said and cut the message.

"How about we send Natsu and Gray with them?" Mavis suggested.

"Good idea, but Natsu left." Gray told them. "I don't know where he went but he seemed to be acting weird."

"I really hope he's not going to go after Zeref again." Makarov said, worryingly. "If you see him on your way to Hargeon, Gray, try to talk some sense into that boy."

"I will, he couldn't have gotten far."

"I'm coming too!" Juvia said to Gray before he got a chance to get away. "I want to help!"

Gray sighed. "Yeah, sure..."

"Me too!" Lucy eagerly says. "I have to find Natsu!" Her cheeks redden. "And, you know, help with taking back Hargeon..."

Gray smiled. He had a strong feeling that Lucy and Natsu had something between them, something more than just friendship. He couldn't help but be hopeful for the both of them; he wanted to see them happy together once the crisis of the war was finally over.

"It is decided then! I will make my journey back to the capital, I trust Fairy Tail to be able to resolve this situation." Arcadios said.

He then lead the three of them to where his soldiers stood in formation outside of the guild.

The man all stand at attention as Arcadios steps in front of them. "Isvex, I have new orders for you."

The man from earlier who had spoken to Natsu stepped forward and bowed to Arcadios.

"Yes, sir."

Arcadios turns around and gestures for Gray to come forward.

"This will be your new commander until further notice. I know he's not what you're used to, but he's a Fairy tail wizard after all, he is to be trusted." he assured the man.

Gray awkwardly scratches the back of his head as he acknowledges the officer and the men behind him. "Uh, yeah. The name's Gray Fullbuster. Nice to, ah, meet you."

"Isvex Vanner. At your service." The officer once again bows in Gray's direction.

"On that note, I will make my departure. Good luck to you three." Arcadios says to them and leaves.

"Tell me, sir, have you ever commanded any amount of troops in battle?" Isvex curiously asks Gray, stepping beside him.

"Well, not real soldiers. I've fought alongside my friends against other wizards and against the Alvarez before, but nothing like this." Gray responded. "Why?"

"Just making sure, you see. In your case, just leave the commanding of the soldiers to me, you'll only ever have to give a direct order if you want me to do something specific." Isvex told him. "Let's go meet with the rest of the soldiers then. Arcadios, left them not too far a ways from here, I'll show you where they are."

Along with the soldiers, Gray, Juvia, and Lucy took a route through the city until they reached a large plaza where the rest of the royal soldiers there stood in tight formation.

"The way we usually have things done when there is more than just one officer," Isvex explained to Gray, "is that we evenly split the forces among each one. With seven thousand men and four officers including me, this can't really be done though. Me and you will have to jointly command a force of one thousand while the ladies here both command three thousand each."

"We have to give orders to three thousand men? How are we supposed to do that?" Lucy asks him, suddenly losing all confidence in herself.

"That, my lady, takes skill." Isvex told her, winking.

"Ugh. This seems more like something Gray or Natsu would be dealing with." she says.

"It won't be that hard. Just keep your posture and confidence and you can accomplish anything." Gray told her.

"Great words of encouragement! Now, let me give you three the run down of how we're going to go about getting the soldiers to Hargeon." Isvex says, taking out a map of the city.

"Oh yeah, speaking of that, how are we supposed to move seven thousand men through all this rubble?" Gray asked, looking toward the south of the city, which seemed to have taken the brunt of the damage Zeref's airships had inflicted in the attack.

"And that's why we have a map here! As I said before, we'll be splitting the men into three and taking three different paths out of Magnolia." Isvex told him.

"But wouldn't we just get lost?"

"Come now, Magnolia isn't that big of a city! I've already planned out three paths that are large enough to accommodate our forces." Isvex said, pointing at three outlines that were on his map. "The first one, here, is the smallest one and will be large enough for me and Gray's men. The next two, here and here, are larger and will be just wide enough for three thousand men to pass through. I have copies of this map so neither of you will get lost." he took out two identical maps and handed each to Lucy and Juvia.

"Now, let us be off. For the glory of Fiore, for the King, and for honor!" Isvex said, saluting each of them.

"Alright then, I'll meet you two outside of Fiore." Gray told Lucy and Juvia. "Good luck."

* * *

When he came to, Natsu almost felt normal once again. However, it was nothing but his mind playing tricks on him.

Natsu got up on his knees. He looked down and saw a mirror-like image of himself reflected back at him from a puddle of clear water that he seemed to be crouching above.

Natsu realized with a start that he was no longer himself anymore. Unlike his arms and legs, his face hadn't taken on a red color to it, but that was about the only thing that hadn't changed. As with the rest of himself, he had scales on either side of his face right under his eyes. The black marks from earlier had crawled up both sides of his neck and were all over his cheeks. His ears were pointed and, to his horror, a pair of sharp, demonic horns had grown out of the spots on his head where he'd first felt the two bumps. His canines had grown sharper and were now quite visible, despite his mouth being closed. Even his pink hair was redder than normal. What scared him the most, though, was his eyes. Usually Natsu's eyes were slightly slanted; this time though, his eyes were even more slanted and the pupils had taken on a red color with a black ring around them, much like Zeref's own eyes.

Natsu couldn't quite stop himself from asking the one question that held his mind since the moment he looked at the reflection.

"What...am I?"

* * *

 **A/N: Thanks for reading and please review.**


	9. Broken Bonds and Broken Bones

**When did you change?**

 **Chapter 9: _Broken Bonds and Broken Bones_  
**

* * *

 **A/N: You guys were wondering what Gray's reaction to Natsu's demon transformation will be, well then here you are! Also, let's see what you guys think of how drastically Natsu's personality will be changing in this chapter, I hope you like it.  
**

* * *

Pain and anger and confusion and...shame. Natsu experienced all of these feelings as he tried to comprehend what exactly he'd turned into.

"This can't be happening!"

Natsu stared at his reflection and at his hands. He couldn't understand how quickly it had happened to him, or even how. _Why_ was what he wanted to know; why this had happened to him.

"How are the others ever going to take this...?" he wondered, the fear that his friends would never again accept him as one of their own, that they would reject him, radiating through his entire being. Until, that is, an even worse thought rippled through his mind.

"Lucy..." He simply could not think of the prospect of having to confront her and say that he was now a demon, a vile creature of evil; a thing, the particular kind of thing that an innocent human girl such as she could never love.

Natsu stumbled to his feet, and tried to put his arm on a nearby wall for support. Before he could even lay his hand on the wall however, it made a loud, crumbling sound and completely collapsed.

This shocked him; to think that even inanimate objects were repudiating him now.

"No, no, no...this can't be..." Natsu stepped back. Everything he touched or stepped on would either die or crumble to dust.

The sight of all this was pushing him beyond his limits. Natsu could feel his sanity utterly slipping from him. He wondered if this was how he'd be fated to die; alone, scared, regretful...rejected.

"How...could this happen?!" he yelled up at the sky.

* * *

 _100 miles east of Crocus_

Zeref stopped in his tracks, a peculiar feeling washing over him. Even as far as he was, the Black Wizard could feel his brother's reawakening take place. He _had_ created Natsu after all. Or, more precisely, recreated him.

"So he's finally turned. I never thought I'd know the day..." he said, sighing.

The four etherious soldiers lugging Fairy Heart on their backs behind Zeref halted their pace at the same time as their master.

"Sir? Are we stopping?" one of them asked.

"No. Continue, our progress to Crocus must be unimpeded." Zeref answered and started walking again.

He didn't know what to feel about Natsu regaining his etherious power. His true self was hopeful, while his contradictory self, which had almost completely taken over his psyche, was telling him that Natsu would simply go insane with power and die, leaving Zeref to go about his plans unhindered.

He no longer knew which to believe.

* * *

Natsu clutched his head as he stared into the ground, his breathing strained and fast.

"Alright...alright, I need to get a hold of myself..." he said, trying to calm himself down. He looked around at the plants that had died all around him.

The terrible thought of having possibly been cursed by Ankhseram like how Mavis had described happened to her crossed his mind. Then he realized that he couldn't have been cursed because he hadn't done anything that decided what lives would be taken and what lives would remain. So why was life around him shriveling up and dying?

He tried to use his magic in order to see if he had really been cursed, only to find that he couldn't use it at all. Closing his eyes, he focused on his energy. It felt wild and very foreign to him, as if it was a completely different being residing within himself, a being that did not wish to obey its master.

Cautiously, he tightened his mental grip on it and surprisingly found that when he did so, it quickly adhered to his authority. As soon as he did regain control of his magic once more, a rushing feeling hit him as if he was falling from the sky. He frantically opened his eyes, but realized that he was no longer in the city circle anymore. He was now seeing Hargeon and the battle that raged on between the other magic guilds of Fiore and Alvarez.

The wizards were being utterly defeated. They fought ferociously, yet all of it was for naught against the Alvarez. Within minutes, they had all fallen. Natsu watched in panic as the Alvarez soldiers rounded up all of them in a circle and tied them up.

A man walked toward them. He wore glasses, had white hair, and was dressed in a long, black and white trench coat with a dress shirt and tie underneath. His attire, and from what Natsu could gather from his overall appearance, was befitting of a man who was very strict.

He walked up to the wizards and looked at each of them..

"Now you know what is to become of those who defy the Immortal Emperor and those who venture to oppose his undeniable wishes. Think and ponder how much you have sinned and how much you have failed, for you will never find a better time than now." The man watched them for the longest time, then finally turned and looked at the soldiers that encircled the wizards.

"Kill them all," he said and went on his way.

"NO!" Natsu cried, but he could do nothing to stop the merciless slaughter that took place right before his eyes. The screaming and the blood that followed...it looked all too real for him to deny.

Slowly, Natsu's sight returned to the Magnolia inner circle where he initially was.

"Did that...really just happen?" he questioned himself, wondering about what he'd seen.

A burning feeling in his hand brought him away from his thoughts. He lifted his palm up to his eyes and saw that words were literally being etched right into his skin. Natsu read them as they were finished:

 _Now you have seen the future's vision_

 _Will you stop it?_

 _Or will you let it run its course?_

"The future's vision?" he said as he thought about the meaning of the phrase. "Wait..." That must have meant that none of what he'd seen had yet happened, he realized. Which also meant that he still had a chance to stop it.

Natsu knew he didn't have time to figure out who could have sent him the message or the vision, or how. Right now, he HAD to get to Hargeon before the situation there spiraled out of his or anyone else's control.

Then he heard them. Frantic, running footsteps behind him.

* * *

Gray was really feeling the demon he'd felt before and when he first felt its presence again, he ran far ahead of the men to find it. As he was about to crest a small hill and reach the inner circle of the city where the presence was most potent, he readied himself for the fight that would surely follow.

Never in his life did Gray ever anticipate seeing Natsu standing right there in the middle of the circle, or the way he looked.

Slowly, Natsu turned his head around. Gray couldn't believe it. Horns, red hair, fangs...Natsu no longer looked like anyone he'd ever known.

Gray stared. "N-natsu?"

"Gray," he acknowledged.

"How... Natsu...what are you?" he uttered, never imagining that he would have to ask such a question of anyone he knew. Gray knew there really was no use asking; Natsu was obviously a demon.

Natsu walked a few steps until he was in front of Gray.

"If you want the truth," he said, "then I don't know. I could never tell you because I don't know myself."

Gray took in the words. They made absolutely no sense to him whatsoever, nor did he believe them. The truth was, he couldn't believe them, and so felt his anger rising as a result.

"But...how could you not know that you're really a demon! What kind of lame-ass excuse is that?!" Gray raised his voice, stepping away from Natsu."All these years...you've been lying to us! Making us believe that you were a human like everyone else! You...you're nothing but a wolf in sheep's clothing!" he accused.

Natsu was afraid of such a reaction. "Trust me Gray, I -"

"Trust you?! How could I trust a liar? A demon!" he yelled. "I...I know. You're working with Zeref aren't you?! Planning on killing us all when the time was right, huh?" Gray's fists powered up with ice magic. "I won't let you!"

"Gray, this is not the time or the place for us to be doing this. I'm not one of Zeref's...I just don't know what I am." Natsu told him, raising his hands in a gesture of non-violence.

"Yeah, like I'll believe that!" he denied once again. "You...you god damn monster!"

Gray raised his fist, and before Natsu knew it, punched him right in face. Then he punched him again in the stomach. Natsu staggered back, though he wasn't at all affected by the blows.

"There's no need for this!"

"Shut up!" the ice mage yelled and raised his hand, about to deliver another attack.

As his fist flew toward him once again, Natsu grabbed it. He then stepped in close to Gray and elbowed him in the chest, sending the ice wizard tumbling to the ground.

Gray raised his hand once again, but before he could attack with his devil-slaying magic, Natsu grabbed his wrist.

"Don't try it Gray! I swear I'll -"

"You'll what?!" Gray screamed at him. "Kill me?! Do it, then! Show all the others what you really are! Show...Lucy what you really are, you monster!"

Natsu let go of him and stepped back, staring. "Show...Lucy?"

"Anyone with at least a bit of common sense," Gray said as he stood back up, "can tell that she loves you. But you...you're a demon, Natsu. You don't deserve her. You never deserved her. Lucy is like a sister to me, do you know that? I would never let my sister be with someone like you." Gray's eyes were filled with hate.

Natsu knew that Gray was right, but he didn't want to hear those words. He didn't want to be told, especially by him, that his friends would now hate and fear him. It made him scared and sad at the same time, and that fear and sadness was rapidly turning to hate and anger.

"You're calling me a monster, Gray, but which one of us just undid so many years of friendship all because of how I look?" Natsu asked him, staring into his eyes with a stern look on his face. "You didn't even ask for an explanation, you just jumped to conclusions. Is that how we've been to each other all these years? Carrying a facade of being friends and friendly rivals, but when and if something unusual happens, we're already at each other's throats, throwing insults, accusations, and even trying to kill each other? Are we even friends at all, Gray?"

Gray's anger dropped at Natsu's words. Suddenly, he felt dumbstruck; he could think of no valid rebuttal, because in truth, he was right; Gray had jumped to conclusions, despite the fact that he did have some reason to believe that Natsu was in fact a demon. Worse so, Natsu's query on whether or not they were friends tore at Gray, making him feel hollow and miserable. He immediately regretted what he'd said only seconds ago about Natsu and Lucy, knowing that their relationship was none of his business in the first place.

"If I were to say," Natsu continued, "I'd say the only betrayer I see here...is you, Gray. You've betrayed me." A cold wind whipped through the city circle as he spoke his words.

The two men stood there, staring at one another...waiting. Natsu waiting for a confirmation, no matter how remote, by Gray that they hadn't really cut the bonds that they both held for each other. Gray, on the other hand, could think of nothing to say that could undo his vicious verbal assault on Natsu.

The continued silence between them was searing at Gray like a red-hot blade as the seconds passed; he could scarcely take it any longer.

Finally, Natsu turned around and walked the other way. The dragonslayer was both outraged and hurt at the Ice Wizard's lack of any reaction, any acknowledgement, to what had been said to him.

"Where are you going!" Gray yelled and tried to catch up with him. Ignoring his words, Natsu continued at the pace he was going, then proceeded to jump onto the rooftop of one of the nearby buildings. Igniting his feet in flames, Natsu ran at top speed to the edge of the building and jumped off, picking up speed as he flew off in the direction of Hargeon Port.

Gray was about to give chase, but found that he couldn't move an inch.

He looked down at his hand, the one he was about to use to fight, and try to kill, his best friend. The hand that had, to Gray's dismay, utterly tore his bond with Natsu asunder.

"What have I done?!"

* * *

Natsu felt solemn as he quietly flew across Magnolia on his way to Hargeon. To think that Gray took him for a traitor so easily. What's worse was the fact that it was just Gray's reaction; Natsu couldn't imagine what the others would think of him now.

His fear became red-hot anger the more he thought of it. Natsu felt especially outraged at the way Gray spoke of him and Lucy.

"He doesn't know anything about us!" The anger had him screaming with rage as he flew across the sky. His entire arms were engulfed in fire. Even at the tips of his horns, two small flames burned bright.

By the time he was nearly above the battlefield, he felt like he was ready to take on the entire Alvarez army all on his own, and he was.

On the ground, hundreds of Alvarez soldiers were engaging the combined mage forces; just like in the vision, the wizards were utterly losing. The foe continually pushed them beyond their limits.

Natsu recognized the officer leading the soldiers below as the same person who he'd seen leading the men before.

"Show these fools the empire's might! Do not falter!" the man was yelling at them, encouraging his troops.

As weird as it was, Natsu was happy to see the army below. He felt pleased to have found something to take his anger out on, and what better than an army?

 _So many...so many to kill..._

The sound of Natsu streaking across the sky caught the attention of both the wizards and of Alvarez. Though, for the Alvarez this was not a good sign.

"CURSE OF FIRE!" Without any knowledge of what he was doing, he casted his first ever curse.

The hundreds of Alvarez soldiers that were initially fighting the wizards burst into flames, screaming in horrific agony as they all fell to the ground...dead.

Natsu landed in front of the thousands of soldiers that remained far in the front. He raised his right arm and deftly moved it in a series of strokes, a dark colored magic seal appearing in front of him. Hundreds of bursts of black fire magic flew out of the seal and hit the soldiers in front, causing explosions and disarray in the enemy's ranks.

He walked toward the mass of troops. As he neared the men, many of them charged him; he showed neither mercy nor reluctance as he killed any soldiers that dared come near him.

All of this happened right in full, frontal view of every one of the other wizards. Though, they didn't recognize Natsu because of the fact that he had landed too far in the front for any of them to identify him.

Many of them, however, still tried to figure out the identity of the mysterious mage who had seemingly swooped into the battle and completely turned the tide for them.

"Woah! Who is that?" Sting, who was present in the battle, marveled.

"It couldn't be Natsu, could it?" nearby Rogue wondered. "I don't think I've ever seen him using black fire...or causing enemies to burst into flame from a distance."

"Hmm, me neither," Sting agreed.

"Then it might not be Natsu."

"Who else could it be? I heard that when Fairy Tail was disbanded, he went off and trained for an entire year; who's to say those aren't any of his new abilities?" Kagura asked them.

"We'll just have to wait and see," Rogue answered her.

* * *

Behind the port and the battle that the Alvarez were now losing, Gray was running as fast as he possibly could, trying to get there fast enough to catch Natsu. He had a feeling the other guilds seeing him the way he was wouldn't be too good of an occurrence and might raise suspicion as to what exactly Fairy Tail was doing with its guild members or what kinds of wizards they harbored. It was a futile effort, unfortunately; Natsu had long since engaged the enemy forces.

Gray's sprint all the way to Hargeon would have taken him over an hour if he hadn't cut a shortcut through the forests just north of the port.

Bursting through the brush, he finally found himself at the far edge of the battlefield. Seeing that he was obviously too late, Gray watched from a distance as Natsu mowed right through the Alvarez army with ease. The black flames and Natsu's usual red and orange magic seal being replaced by a different dark blue and black one were easily noticed by his attentive eyes.

"Where's he going…?" Gray asked himself. Natsu seemed to be slicing a path right through the middle of the large enemy army, making his way to the other side.

Realization dawned on him as he noticed an Alvarez officer standing far behind the men. He looked looked concerned as he watched his army being killed off easily by Natsu, though he didn't make any move to try and get away. He even seemed to be ready to fight. As he observed, Gray recognized the officer as Invel, one of the Spriggan 12. But it didn't make any sense, he could have sworn that they had defeated him along with the other ten some time before. How could he be here?

From what Gray could see, Natsu was headed straight for Invel.

* * *

"Two hundred and eighty three…eighty-four...eighty-five..." Natsu found himself counting as he killed each of the soldiers one by one. It was the first time he'd done so, and he could frankly say that it was a fun thing to do, especially while he was practicing his new-found power on the enemy.

His hand to hand combat style was murderous. He snapped necks with both hands and legs simultaneously, broke arms, threw soldiers into the air, and even went as far as to grab one of the attackers and literally break the man's back across his knee. This last act of brutality on its own caused a lot of the attacking soldiers to turn and run, completely abandoning their assault in fear.

In addition, the initially aggressive attack slowed more and more as time went on. It was as they watched comrades being killed by the rampaging demon Natsu had become, that the Alvarez army, or what remained of it anyway, lost its once relentless reputation of having no fear of death on the battlefield.

The army ended up forming a sloppy half circle around Natsu in an attempt to overwhelm him with sheer numbers. But he was of course ready for this as well. In fact, he'd been hoping this would happen; it was partly the reason why he was fighting the Alvarez soldiers on the ground rather than just picking them off from the air.

When the men all charged at once, Natsu ignited his hands in flames and began to spin around in a circle, gaining more and more speed as he did so. The blackest of fire shot out from his palms as he spun round and round, engulfing the charging men and causing them to scream and shout as they were consumed by the flames.

When it was finally over, Natsu stopped and looked around.

"Damn, I lost count," he cursed. All around him, the fried bodies of soldiers lay in multitudes. Some were still flailing, trying to be rid of the black fire that continually burned at them.

The soldiers who hadn't foolishly ran into Natsu's spinning inferno were already halfway across the battlefield; they had completely routed.

"Ah, what a sight to behold," started Invel, who was now standing a few feet in front of Natsu. "To think that my men could be sent running in all directions..." he sighed in thought, "it's quite the marvel."

Natsu eyed him warily.

Invel obviously caught sight of the suspicion in the look, for he pretended to act as if he remembered something important. "I should introduce myself," he said. "I am Invel, consul and chief of staff to the Immortal Emperor Spriggan, and the twelfth Shield of Spriggan. Who might you be?" he asked Natsu, feigning curiosity and acting casual despite the massacre that had happened right in front of him.

Natsu mocked him by sighing before he spoke in the same way that he had done. "I really couldn't care less who you are. And me? I'm nobody."

"Surely a demon warrior with the capability to single-handedly kill and rout an entire army of seven thousand has a name. It would be quite a shame that history wouldn't get to know who exactly you are." Invel replied. He raised his hands, blueish ice magic being emitted from his palms.

Natsu grinned. "Screw history. Just call me Your Worst Nightmare."

* * *

 **A/N: Fun fact: originally I was going to have it so that August uses a projection magic to project an image of himself to Natsu and using that image of himself, he tells Natsu about how badly the battle for Hargeon is going for the combined wizard forces. I scrapped the idea because I felt like a vision and words etched into Natsu's palm would be better, since it ties in a lot more to a character that I'll be introducing in a later chapter. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and as always, please review.  
**


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